Figure 1.--Here we see a Tajik boy demonstrating his skill in Lanka for us. |
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‘Lanka’ is a game of skill. It is an individual game. The wool is thrown into the air and then kicked back up again as gravity tries to bring it to the ground. The Lanka is kicked on the side of the foot. When a boy is playing the game he looks as if he is doing an Irish Folk dance. Often at anyone time out of a group of boys 4 will be playing Langa and the others will be spectators. Who is a spectator changes because the game is fast paced and energetic. Once a boy drops out to rest another boy will take his place and he will rest. The kicking can be on the same foot or the Lanka can be kicked from foot to foot. This takes more skill and only those boys who have exceptional coordination can
achieve such skilful play. These are the boys who are admired by the other Langk players. I have seen boys trying to work in pairs to play but this do not seem to work too well because the second player cannot get in position quick enough to take over control of the falling Lanka from his opponent. This more aggressive playing is done by older boys who Lanka playing soon develops into a general kicking game. The competitive aspect of the game is to kick the Lanka into the air the most before the competitor looses control of it. The most I have seen a Lanka kicked continuously is about repeated 9 repeated kicks. If you have a lot of luck it is possible to reach 10 kicks.
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