The simple grey-and-white grids of a crossword can build bridges across gender, continents and generations. One such motley group of crossword enthusiasts who gathered here on Saturday served as a testament to that statement.
Some of them were long past retirement and others had just started their career, there were mathematicians as well as homemakers – but each one of them had woken up to The Hindu 's cryptic crossword puzzle for as long as they could remember.
C.G. Rishikesh, one of the 30-odd people who gathered, has done every one of The Hindu 's crosswords since 1971. “My addiction to the newspaper crossword started in 1966, with the series which was published in The Mail . I still remember doing The Hindu 's Crossword ‘number 1' in 1971. A couple of days ago, I completed ‘number 10,381',” he says.
David John, who had come from Bangalore just for the meet-up, said: “Our interests are similar. Usually, we keep in touch through social media. Some people put out the answers to all the clues in the crossword as early as 8.30 a.m. It's nice to put faces to all the names that have come to signify something special.”
This is the group's fourth rendezvous. The last one happened in California. “We are a community of solvers,” says Mr. Rishikesh with a smile. And they are present all over the world – from London to Germany to Hong Kong. The Internet has helped them to build the community that exists today. The community has also kindled the interest of many others. Sixty-one-year-old R.Pankajam says: “I suddenly got a spark and started doing the daily crossword in 2006. I guess as you get old, you want to go back to what you once enjoyed.”
