Cryptic crossword puzzles in Tamil

[ராமராவ்]

Dear Friends,

As you all know, the Cryptic crossword puzzles in Tamil are being published regularly.

Sri Parthasarathy Srinivasan        - every week 

Sri Muthu Subramanyam              - monthly  

Sri K.R.Santhanam                        - monthly  

Sri Ramachandran vaidyanathan  - fortnightly 

Ramarao (Myself)                           - monthly 

Earlier, Sri Nagarajan Appichchigoundar, Sri Hari Balakrishnan and Sri Yosippavar,  were also publishing the cryptic Tamil crossword puzzles.

Those who take part actively in solving these puzzles and sending the answers are generally and mainly from kurukkumnedukkum / vaarthaivilaiyattu group, and the number is hardly around 20.

When Sri Vanchinathan's puzzles were published in the Tamil monthly "Thendral" from USA, more number of participants were there, the reason being that the journal had a higher reach among the readers, throughout the world. (Even though a good number of participants were sending the answers, only the names of those who sent all the answers correctly were only published in the journal.)  

Now I come to the crux of the issue.  Why only a few take active part in solving these puzzles, despite the puzzles are published also in the other sites such as Tamilmanam, Nikandu, Ta.indli etc. The following could be the reasons.

1. Our puzzles do not reach most of the Tamil population in the world, which means there is not much publicity to these.

2. Many Tamil people are NOT aware that the puzzles are coming out every month.

3. Those who take active part in the puzzles are mainly old-timers and the present young generation is not interested in these puzzles

4. Even though many may see the puzzles, they do not have interest in solving or they are not able to spare time for these due to their work-load. 

5. The younger generation generally study in English medium from young age, study Tamil language as one of the subjects and so the proficiency in Tamil language is minimal. 

6. Many do not have access to the internet or computer / knowledge of the computer operation. 

7. Many do not want to break their head in solving these cryptic puzzles, as these involve more brain work and good knowledge of Tamil language.

There could be more reasons which are not listed above. Whatever be the reasons,  I reckon that first and foremost, more Tamil population in the world should come to know that there are cryptic Crossword puzzles in Tamil and more should come forward to take part in solving these puzzles.

The reason for me to bring out this is that the puzzles-solving friends should not be limited to a very few. The suggestions to popularize these puzzles to a large number of Tamil speaking friends are needed. Some of our group members can also help in popularizing.

Your Comments and Suggestions are welcome.  Please send them to kurukkum...@googlegroups.com, so that every member can see them.  

Thanks and regards

Ramarao