Pieces of Sticks and Stones were all I needed to create the characters of my own. Our mind is miraculous and has its own universe within. It was not always possible for me as a kid to get toys, only sometimes on rare occasions. I was always fascinated by great Warriors and Rulers, lost somewhere in time and history but they always lived for me. I fought some great battles in my time. Great warriors and Gladiators fought for me in the form of sticks. World war was nothing in-comparison to sticks war. My balcony was divided into many kingdoms, each ruled by separate rulers. Rulers had their ultimate goal to capture enemy's territories and of course they gave their best to defend the land of their loved ones.
If I had more than two hands, I would make more than two warriors fight against one another simultaneously but sadly just two worlds collided on each battle. It was fierce and brutal, leaving ink spots and broken sticks everywhere at the end of each day. It was not always easy for those warriors. They had to fight in the most harsh scenarios. Sometimes water flooded the kingdom, thrown by my mother after washing her vegetables. They also had many obstacles in the form of dishes scattered everywhere on our balcony after our meal. But they fought their best for the ultimate pride and glory of their being.
Sticks War was an ultimate example of Darwin's Survival of the Fittest. Thicker, fitter Sticks mostly won the battle. Thin lads managed to escape and hid themselves inside an Ant's hole. Poor ants faced chaos and ran everywhere to save themselves from being attacked by an uninvited stick warrior. The goal was not always about occupying enemy territory. Sometimes warriors fought for the women from different territories as I was greatly influenced by real life warriors from the school , who constantly gave love letters and fought with other guys for the sake of same woman.
Some warriors had special powers . They could throw fire arrows. Fire arrows were special form of arrows mostly stolen from my kitchen (The matchbox). Just because of sticks warriors , I got into a lot of troubles every time my mother found out about it.
Some warriors could even fly on a paper airplane and attack opponents from the sky as in the Blitzkrieg. But they always had risk flying over the fire arrow throwers who burned them down and scattered their ashes all over the kingdom.
Life is all about imagination. Its really amazing how a kid can generate his own story and characters. Every time I saw my nephew or niece playing in the similar manner,I simply adored looking at them for hours because I could somehow feel their enjoyment for myself. No matter how hard we try to be mature in life, there is always a kid inside of everyone. Imagination allows a kid to practice real-life skills. From shopping at a pretend grocery store to assigning roles and dialogue to dolls or puppets, his pretend play helps him practice and apply new learning and better understand how those skills are used in the real world.
