Why did we stop playing? Somewhere between growing up, sitting for exams, and cheering from the sidelines, most of us swapped the playground for the couch. In this opening episode of Game Play Sport, hosts Rahul De, Associate Professor, School of Arts and Sciences, Azim Premji University; Kailash Koushik, Assistant Professor, Department of Media Studies, Christ University; and Arvind Bharathi BN, Assistant Professor, School of Arts and Sciences, Azim Premji University, dust off old definitions and ask a simple question: what’s the difference between game, play, and sport? Is gully cricket with its ever-changing rules still a game? Is catching a frisbee in the park just play? And when does it all turn serious, with coaches, scorecards, and medals?

The trio takes us on a lively ride through childhood nostalgia, adult hang-ups, and society’s odd relationship with sports. Why does India cheer so much and play so little? What happens to fun when competition enters the room? And what if our schools treated play as essential, not extra? This episode is not just about sport, but about reclaiming the joy of movement—rules or no rules.

Credits: Akshay Ramuhalli, Bruce Lee Mani, Gorveck Thokchom, Kishor Mandal, Kruthika Rao, Narayan Krishnaswamy, Prashant Vasudevan, Ram Sheshadri, Sananda Dasgupta, Seema Seth, Shraddha Gautam, Supriya Joshi, and Velu Shankar