17 Sep 2016 –

Two of these words are YOLO and cliquist. The former word stands for you only live once and the second is a reflection of advances in advertisements and social media where we click on our computer or laptop to order some product or go to a particular site for getting some information.

The practice of adding new words in the Oxford dictionary has been going on for almost a century. Every year new words such as samosa (sambosa) or chaddi are added. Last year two words that became popular were twitterati and voluntourism. The former word refers to people who are fond of sending messages on twitter. The other word refers to people who go out on a tour but with the objective of doing something for charity such as saving elephants or lions or helping children living in orphanages. Another word added was sext meaning sending sexually explicit material.

Today many people play Sudoku and virtually all newspapers carry one or two Sudoku puzzles for readers to solve and enjoy. This word is of Japanese origin and apparently the country gave birth to this puzzle. How this puzzle has caught the attention of the world is a fascinating story. These puzzles are graded from simple to moderate to difficult. Not only newspapers but books of these puzzles are available in the market.

I have seen many persons who are sitting in a bus or tramcar working on their Sudoku puzzles and using their journey fruitfully. There are other people who are busy on their Mobile or smart phones and who knows, perhaps reading and enjoying the sextual material on their smart phones.

What should we call the persons – young and elderly who are immersed in these puzzles? Should we call them sudokists on par with cliquists? May be this word will enter the Dictionary in the coming years.

Call them whatever but it is interesting to talk to them about what drives them to solve these Sudoku puzzles; it appears that solving these puzzles is their passion and gives them peace and tranquillity. It also drives away loneliness and aloneness. Some people say that if they are depressed solving a moderately difficult puzzle is a very satisfying experience and they come out of their depression. Some others say it makes them peaceful and happy.

People have found different means of seeking peace and enjoyment—by listening to or playing music, by playing football, by reading a good novel, or by working for peace and conflict resolution. The sudokists find peace by solving these puzzles.

Once I talked to a scientist who was working in Delhi University. I asked him is it possible that these puzzles are repeated from one source to another? He answered that mathematically there can be many – almost infinite number of puzzles of different difficulty levels so repetition is unlikely.

Many people who play the game regularly feel that while they can solve easy and moderately difficult puzzles, it is difficult almost impossible to solve the very difficult ones. These players have coined a word for these. They grade the puzzles in terms of their difficulty as easy, moderate, difficult and evil. I was astonished to know about the last level. Why call it evil, I asked.

Well they are not only extremely difficult but it appears that the puzzles also enjoy their difficulty level and do not want any ordinary person to be able to solve them. Only a genius who has mathematical ability and an extraordinary brilliance can solve them. It is like a person who has the brilliance to hack someone’s email; such a person is an evil genius.

Interesting and innovative answer — such is this game or puzzle. It does not require any special equipment or a playing field. All it requires is concentration and a love for solving puzzles. Sudoku Zindabad (Long live Sudoku)!