Continuing my previous post on hobbies, looking back, Crosswords helped me analyze, think, rack my brain and identify the ideal solutions.
My father initiated this hobby. Though we share many interests, some of the family members were also interested in other hobbies we shared like Reading, Music, Sports. Mother was interested in Music, brother and sister in Reading, and brother again in Sports. Photography was my exclusive domain for you can't expect three Capricornians and one Taurus to have any kind of aesthetic sense. Crossword was where the minds of my father and me were in sync. He would get hold of the paper first in the morning. Since he had a photographic memory which would enable him to recollect a clue that has been once seen by him ( Phenomenal memory he had!!), he will write 12 of the 30 odd clues within no time. But his mind was logical and sequential, while I had and still have a beautiful right brain. The complex clues were my domain, whereas I get bored with routine clues and had no interest in them. He grudgingly accepted my competence in this area and appreciated my ability to find bizarre solutions to cryptic clues. Together we cracked the Hindu Crossword in an hour or so everyday. Crosswords improved my vocabulary and spelling tremendously. I started on crosswords way back in 1980s and has been doing it for nearly 3 decades now, though I lost a bit of interest on my fathers demise. Since the words were always associated with a clue, the learning was quick and efficient. Each clue presented a problem that had only one solution, the ideal one. One has to be tenacious to get that one solution. Jogging your memory, refering Thesaurus and cross checking with Dictioneries, every day started with a mini research. We would never rest till we found the solution to a clue. We threw back and forth various options and the mind worked like a Intel processor searching databases stored in the recess of the mind for any spark. And the euphoria in getting the right word meant we had a cause for celebration. One always needs small victories everyday to keep going. Needless to say Crosswords expanded the cubic capacity of the brain, made it active, fostered a spirit of quest and the need to accomplish a task begun (an incomplete crossword is very very irritating). All these skills prepared me to tackle the Knowledge Economy towards which we are progressing
