St. John Bosco Church, Borivli
Telegames 2008
1st May 2008
Don Bosco School Grounds, Borivli

The eagerly awaited day finally arrived. It was the 1st of May, 2008 and by 6.00 pm a substantial crowd had collected on Don Bosco School Ground, Borivli to participate in the TeleGames 2008. A lot of effort went into the preparation for this big event. Of course, it was the DBYM who did the entire planning and execution of the Telegames.

The Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Ronald Menezes, declared the games open and Ms Fiona Gomes took charge of the proceedings for the next 5 hours which were filled with excitement, emotion, protests, celebration and a lot of inovative games which kept the participants as well as the spectators on the edge of their seats.

The First Game
Balloon Head Race
Each zone had 5 pairs of players at opposite ends of the track and each pair had to run accross the track with a balloon balanced between their heads. New MHB Zone won this hotly contested game followed by Yogi North in 2nd place and Jairaj Nagar in 3rd place.

The Second Game
The Water Glass filling Relay
Each zone had 8 players and the first player had to pour a glass of water over his head into the glass of the player behind him without looking. By the time the water reached the eighth player, there were only a few drops remaining, but in time the tempo picked up and the glasses at the end of the column of 8 players started filling up. Gorai I won the game closely followed by Eksar in second place and joint third place winners viz. Yogi North and New MHB.

The Third Game
Clear the Shaving Cream with Water Balloons
This was a fun game to test the water balloon throwing skills of the children. Each team had 7 participants who had to throw water balloons at the back of a volunter. The back of the volunter was covered with shaving cream. The team which could clear up most of the cream would win. Jairaj Nagar, with all their Holi playing skills, won the game hands down. St Annes came second followed closely by our new zone Chikoowadi.

The Fourth Game
Search the Toffee
This was an innovative game which made white faced monkeys of all the participants. 8 players from each zone had to participate. Each player had to run accross the track, sniff out the toffee kept in a plate of flour with their noses, eat the toffee once located and run back across the track to tag the next player in the team. It was fun watching all the white faced participants returning to tag their team mates. But, unfortunately, many of the players from all the teams broke the rules and all teams were awarded 5 points.

The Fifth Game
Pass the Tennis Ball
We have seen tennis balls passed before but watching 6 players from each team pass it in an innovative manner was real fun. First you scooped the ball from ground level with a badminton racket to the second player who caught the ball between a pair of plastic bowls and rolled it to the third player who placed the ball in a funnel which was held between the toes who had to hop accross to the fourth player and this went on till the sixth player ran with the ball back to the first player and the relay went on for a fixed time period. Yogi North won the game followed by Gorai II in second place and Gorai I in third. At this point, Yogi North was leading the tally with 60 points followed by Jairaj Nagar, Gorai I and New MHB with 50 points each. The contest at the halfway stage was very close.

The Sixth Game
Chew the Lime and Whistle
Another innovative game where 10 members of each team had to run accross the track, chew the juice of a piece of sour lime, whistle after chewing all the juice and return back to tag the next player. New MHB who played their Joker won this game and got double the points. They were followed by Gorai I in second place and Eksar in third. At this stage, because of 50 points earned by New MHB, they took a massive lead and were overall First with 100 points followed by Gorai I with 65 points and Yogi North with 60 points.

The Seventh Game
Sack Race with a water balloon in it
This was a Sack Race with an evil twist. A water balloon was placed inside the sack and each of the 10 players had to run accross the track without breaking the water balloon.Two teams finished with equal number of balloons in first place and they were Gorai I and New MHB. Jairaj took the next honours. The top three standings did not change with these results. New MHB was first with 125 followed by Gorai I with 90 and Yogi North in third place with 70 points.

The Eighth Game
The Banana Race
5 players from each team had to run accross the track with a banana between their legs. Once they reached the other side they had to eat the banana and come back and tag the next player. In the confusion, some players dropped their bananas which got smashed and the game had to be called off with 5 points awarded to all teams.

The Ninth and Final Game
The Water Brigade
The best game was kept for the last. Each player had to run accross the track with a bucket filled with water and try to fill up three glasses at the other end of the track. The catch was that the buckets had holes punched into them so as you ran across the water poured out of the holes and wet the player up. Yogi North who played their Joker won the game and got 50 points followed closely by New MHB and Vazira in third place. With the help of the 50 points Yogi North managed to overtake Gorai I in the last game. The final standings were New MHB first with 141 points followed by Yogi North in second place with 126 points and Gorai I in third place with 98 points.

The prizes were distributed by Fr. Ronnie to the winners and every one went home having enjoyed a thoroughly satisfying evening of comradeship. Good show DBYM. We look forward to TeleGames 2009.

(Note : The pictures of the event are presented below. Unfortunately, due to the long duration of the event, the battery cell of the camera ran dry and the pictures of the presentation of prizes and group photographs did not develop satisfactorily. However, there are plenty of pictures for you to glean over)