Ah, they ask this in Goa also? Here, we say it is the *kattai*—the wood of the chessboard! Our humid air makes the pieces stick, so you must think three moves ahead just to lift a pawn, no? Jokes, jokes. But truly, it is our *kudumba vishwasam*, our family belief in education as a sturdy ladder. Every small *vilaiyattu* academy is like a temple. I see it when my own son's friend, a rickshaw-wallah's boy, comes to my school club with his lunch *dabba* still in hand, eyes burning to checkmate. The grandmasters start right there, on our cracked cement floors.
#chess#india
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