Author: Deeya Nambiar

I believe in taking every day as a learning phase, and exploring my writing skills. I have enjoyed the challenges as a journalist, content writer and college lecturer, and at the moment am living life analysing the extraordinary in the ordinary!

Interesting Fact: July 2008

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It has been a great experience in reading and collecting these facts. Hope you enjoy too.

1. In the aftermath of World War II, Japanese biologist Shinya Inoue used a tin can and a discarded machine gun to build the first polarised light microscope

2. Europe’s red-barbed ants form colonies that are either entirely male or female. Believe it or not, the two sexes can never live together!

3. Half of the oxygen in the atmosphere comes from microscopic life in the world’s ocean

4. A statue of Vladimir Lenin stands at the South Pole of Inaccessibility, the point on Antarctica that is furthest from the ocean

5. Policemen in Tijuana equipped themselves with slingshots in January 2007 after the Mexican government took away their guns

6. Austria has a series of postage stamps that contains real meteorite dust. The stamps issued in 2006 had the dust collected from a 19 kg meteorite found in Morocco

7. Red-billed Quelea (Quelea quelea) from south of the Sahara in Africa is one of the most common wild bird in the world. These birds are so prolific that they are serious pests and millions are killed at roost sites every year in a vain attempt to control their numbers

8. British sailors used to be called “Limeys” because they ate citrus to prevent scurvy on long sea voyages

9. Zorro is the most filmed cartoon character and featured in 69 films. Created by Johnston McCully, he was the first comic strip character to be the subject shown in a major film, The Mark of Zorro (USA 1920).

10. Widow is the only female form in the English language that is shorter than its corresponding male term (widower)

By Deeya Nayar-Nambiar, Published in SigningOff column (April 2008), btw of Chitralekha Group

Scrabble Scramble

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Over 100 million sets of Scrabble are sold in 121 countries in 29 different languages. By Deeya Nayar-Nambiar

“It’s only words, and words are all I have, to take your heart away,” sang the Bee Gees and later Boyzone. These are just lyrics but true as the word: better the vocabulary, greater are the chances of conveying a message. And like children we continue to play and learn words in our free time instead of letting our mind become a devil’s workshop. Researchers have proved that reading, crossword puzzles and such other activities for the mind are a way to good health. Toy manufacturers and the software, keeping with the trends, offer the latest updated product. Thus Scrabble continues to find place in most homes.

Of course you know Scrabble, the board game you play with three friends of yours, often insisting that the word you have coined “is there in the dictionary.” The game has certain rules that you followed religiously, such as making words across and down in a crossword pattern on a 15 x 15 game board and counting scores from the points associated with each block or letter. Who knew Scrabble would become a popular game when an architect designed it.  Yes, Alfred Mosher Butts, the brainchild behind Scrabble, was an unemployed architect in US. When Butts lost his job, he decided to explore his passion for games and words. “Mild-mannered, bespectacled Butts disliked dice games; they were all down to luck. On the other hand, he felt that all-skill games, like chess, were too highbrow for the general public.” He devised a game in 1930s that was based on luck and skill and suited every player. All his efforts to sell his game failed till one day lawyer and game lover James Brunot got the rights. Brunot made a few adjustments to the design and renamed Criss-crosswords to ‘Scrabble’.

The game was trademarked and James Brunot and his wife converted an abandoned schoolhouse in Dodgington, Connecticut, into a Scrabble factory in 1948. But the Brunots could no longer keep up with demand and licensed game maker Selchow & Righter to market and distribute the game. Today over 100 million sets of Scrabble are sold in 121 countries in 29 different language versions. The Internet also caters to its fan offering many sites where they can play scrabble online. Not only this, there are several international Scrabble tournaments and even registered word lists such as SOWPODS, a combination of the British and American word lists. Again, for the computer savvy, Scrabble software versions such as Super Scrabble, Funkitron Scrabble Download, and players with artificial intelligence are available to keep you on toe. No wonder it’s world’s best selling word game!

Published in  December 2006, btw of Chitralekha Group

Hit Wicket

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Politics, religion and cricket blend in relationships marked by friendship, trust and betrayal make a right mix in Chetan Bhagat’s The 3 Mistakes Of My Life. Making a cameo appearance, Bhagat plays to the gallery.

The story begins with an e-mail that Chetan receives from Govind, a small-time businessman in Ahmedabad who has failed in an attempt to kill himself. Bhagat tracks down the hapless man and the story unfurls when Govind narrates his life like a flashback in a Bollywood film.

While three friends – Govind, Omi and Ishaan – appear as the boys next door who dream to make it big in life. Cricket is the mantra that will fulfill their aspirations. A little boy named Ali is an exceptional cricket player and the three friends want to groom and sponsor the prodigy to make their own dreams come true.

Putting their situation in the contemporary context correct, the attack on the World Trade Centre, the earthquake that shook Gujarat, Ayodhya and the Godhra incident are relived through the characters.

The aftershocks haunt them when the communal riots involve the friends and Ali. “Life will have many setbacks. People close to you will hurt you. But you don’t break it off. You don’t hurt them more. You try to heal it. It is a lesson not only you, but our country needs to learn.”

The 3 Mistakes… is predictable and a quick read. However, it offers little scope for reflection and thinking.

By Deeya Nayar-Nambiar, Published in June 2008, btw of Chitrakeha Publications