Captivating Squares

I wonder why it took me so long to write about something I enjoy doing every day. What started of as a simple puzzle has now been attributed with magical powers. It is said to motivate or stimulate the brain and also to keep at bay serious illnesses like Parkinsonism and Alzheimer’s. Though I got hooked on to it for the joy that numbers give me, it has turned out to be the best antidote in my medicine chest. Well I am talking about the Sudoku of which I am sure everyone is familiar.

Numbers have always fascinated me. Whenever I come across a new number of which I need to keep track, I try to put it into my memory in a way in which I can recall the same when required. This is true of mainly the telephone numbers of family and friends and sometimes even their vehicle numbers. I have my own way of doing this and it is hard for me to put my methods down on paper. I can only say that the end results are gratifying. Thus a mini telephone directory exists in my brain. With the advent of the Mobile phone and especially its number storage capacity, my need to remember numbers is slowly but surely ceasing to exist. I must be one of the few people unhappy with this state as to me it felt as if the brain would stop functioning. It was when my spirits were at a nadir that the Sudoku puzzles first started appearing in the local dailies. I have to credit the Deccan Chronicle for introducing me to this treat for it was they among the Chennai papers, who first published a Sudoku puzzle. The paper as such started its Chennai edition in 2005, when Sudoku was gaining popularity the world over and this was the bonus they offered. Since it was a number puzzle, I took to it at the first glance. The first couple of days, I had no clue as to what was required or as to how to go about finishing the puzzle. There where no instructions, except for a single liner which stated that a number should not be repeated. It did not strike my mind that I could always go on to the internet and find a solution. Anyway within a week I cleared a few of the puzzles, only to find tougher ones being published subsequently. Thus, the challenge increased and along with it my love for these puzzles.

These four years have honed my skills when it comes to solving a Sudoku. I have graduated from a beginner to more or less an expert. I can break most of the in built codes with reasoning and logic. This passion has superseded my love for current affairs and other happenings in the newspaper. Being a thoroughbred Chennaiite, I start my day with The Hindu newspaper, or shall I say with the Sudoku in the paper. I get admonished at times by my father, as he feels that I get to spend more time doing the puzzles at the expense of all the world happenings. He cannot understand how I can mull over my tiny 81 squares. (a grid consisting of 9x9, with 9, 3x3 sub squares) The puzzles come with various levels of difficulties and in The Hindu paper are graded from one to five. I have started ignoring the one and two and only do from the three to the five. Since we subscribe to four English and two vernacular dailies, I am on a daily basis greeted by 7 fresh Sudokus. I get to do only a couple as otherwise it becomes a strain on my time and my neck. Discarding the other five is to me like forfeiting a great pleasure. I know there is no point in cutting out the unused ones and storing them for a rainy day as every day brings forth a fresh lot. The way they are being published seems like there is a never ending supply from a bottomless pit.

Although the origin of the puzzle is from Japan, the person behind the computerization of the puzzle resulting in the bottomless pit is a New Zealander. The Japanese are truly ingenuous people who could come up with a simple game which only needs logic and clear thinking and absolutely nothing else. This is a far cry from the gizmos and video games for which the very same country is most famous. It is said that the Sudoku has been around for more than 200 years in forms similar to its present format, however its popularity soared only in 2004 November when The Times of the UK, started featuring it. I am indeed glad that the newspapers in India did not waste any time in introducing the same over here.

"Sudoku" literally means "single number." It is actually an abbreviation of a longer name, "Sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru," which roughly means "the numbers must occur only once.” To me the single number in Sudoku can only be Numero Uno or the Number One for I have placed it on the highest pedestal as it beats all the other puzzles by virtue of its simple format which hides various degrees of complexity. To the buff in me there has been no looking back ever since I won a Sudoku contest. On being asked to explain the reasoning involved in solving the puzzle, I had to give a dumb stare for like the various phone and car numbers stored in my mind, I follow no mathematical steps when solving these puzzles. For me the mantra is “A new day dawns and a few new puzzles get cracked.”