A youth plays a shot in a game of street cricket with friends near Gandhi Maidan and (right) children have fun playing videogames in Patna on Thursday. Pictures by Ranjeet Kumar Dey and Ashok Sinha

The 12-hour shutdown on Thursday gave children the perfect excuse to do the thing closest to their heart — be themselves.

Most of the schools in the state capital remained closed, giving kids the chance to wake up late, skip studies and play different outdoor and indoor games the entire day. They loved playing cricket, football, badminton, chess, ludo and carrom besides videogames.

Harsh Aryan, a Class VI student of Delhi Public School, woke up three hours behind his normal 5am wake-up time. His mother, Renu Agrawal, said: “Harsh has to wake up early in the morning everyday to go to school. So I thought of allowing Harsh a little rest today (on Thursday). After all, he does not get much time to rest on the other days,” said Agrawal.

An elated Harsh said: “I wish there was a strike every other day so that we could get a few extra hours of sleep.”

Arunima Chatterjee, a Class VI student of Mount Carmel High School, had loads of fun. “My friends came over to my house and we played several games. Suddenly, it started raining. We danced in the rain. My mother scolded us a bit but that did not dampen our spirit,” said the 11-year-old girl.

Arunima was allowed to play after a few hours of study in the morning.

Some lucky ones, however, did not have to fulfil any such condition. Their parents allowed them to spend the day according to their wish.

Pushpanjali Srivastava, mother of six-year-old Suprakash, said: “I did not force Suprakash into studying. Why will I force him? Today is his holiday. So he should enjoy the day to the fullest. After all, on other days he has to follow a strict routine. On returning from school, he has to complete his homework. So he does not get much time to play. Today (on Thursday), I gave him freedom.”

Suprakash said: “I had a blast. I played cricket, football, videogames and also watched my favourite cartoons. My mother did not stop me even once.”

Students loved the idea of a shutdown but majority of the teachers did not. “We had to postpone Thursday’s first terminal exam,” said Rajiv Pathuria, a teacher of Notre Dame School.

Shailendra Mohan Jha, an economics teacher of Gyan Niketan, echoed Pathuria.