This was what my first 'ROBOND' (Catapult) looked like when I was a young lad. Firstly, we had to find an appropriate fork of the tree branch that formed a shape of a perfect 'V'. We had to cut it to the suitably appropriate length, skin and flatten the sides if need be. Then look around for an old discarded inner rubber tube of a bicycle, cut strips out from it with scissors - both for the straps and strips for fastening/tying onto the 'V'; search for some old leather shoes, or walk a kilometer to the nearby Tinto (Marketplace) at Parra Junction, to the 'mochi' (shoesmith) for a piece of leather and also pay a visit to the bicycle repairman for some unusable tubes, both of whom would oblige to our need. And later, after assembling the catapult, off we went in a group for a hunt around the village or to the hills nearby.
My father had helped me make my very own first mini 'robond' (Konkani) cut out from a tree branch when I was about 9 years old. Small pieces of laterite stones were used as projectiles - held snugly in the leather clasp between one's index finger and thumb of the left hand, the rubber straps were pulled as far back as possible, aimed and released towards the intended target. This caused the 'unguided' missile to be launched through the space between the V-shape of the catapult which was clasped tightly with the right hand. Some lads were very adept in making the catapult, fondly called 'catty', using it with expertise and were very good with their aim as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment