Urban Legend: Not so cryptic! going off the grid with Prahalad Rao

40,000 crosswords and still counting! N. Prahalad Rao, a retired government employee, is Bengaluru’s Colossus of crosswords! What started out as a way to pass the time during his high school mathematics class became his greatest passion. With two decades of creating crosswords already under his belt, his passion is as relentless as ever, reports Aknisree Karthik.

A 1,000 crosswords in a year and 40,000 till date! Does that sound unbelievable? Not for those who know Mr A.N. Prahalad Rao, a retired government employee, who has over the course of  31 years, constructed crossword puzzles of every kind to engage the brightest minds,  making them work their brains overtime to get that elusive word which leaves a puzzle incomplete.   

Crosswords are a favourite pastime for most people, you can spot creased faces poring over newspapers with pen or paper in a train or in a quiet corner in your office, trying to make sure that the rectangular or square grid of black and white blocks is filled to perfection. The joy one gets when filling the right word in the right blocks is unexplainable. And when all the white blocks are filled with the right words, the mind is elevated to another plane where the toughest of tasks seem simple.

Prahalad is no doubt a titan in his chosen field, he is the only crossword creator to hold the Limca record for creating the highest number of crosswords in a regional language in 2015 and 2016. His 40,000 crosswords have appeared in 42 different Kannada periodicals and what’s more stunning is the fact that he has achieved this feat with no formal training.

For those who thought that crosswords make the brain sweat, literally, here is another amazing piece of information. You may take an hour or even more to crack a tough crossword but Mr Prahalad needs only 15-20 minutes to create one.

And how did it all start, this infatuation for crosswords? “Since my high school days, I had this hobby of solving crosswords in Kannada, which used to appear every week in leading regional dailies. I was inclined towards the arts but owing to parental pressure, I opted for science. That’s when crosswords became an exciting diversion to escape the boredom in physics and maths classes. While others were cracking their heads solving complex maths problems, I was mastering the art of making crosswords.”

After completing his journalism course, Prahalad started his career at Kolara Patrike, a Kannada daily in 1975 and in 1983, joined the state information department. The year 1984 was a turning point- he started constructing his own crosswords which started appearing in Kannada weeklies and dailies.

You name it, he has a crossword to offer in every subject under the sky, whether it is general knowledge, films, Kannada literature, poets, crime, history, mythology or food. Prahalad has not stopped at crosswords. He has worked as public relations officer at BBMP, BWSSB, KSPCB and other government departments and is an avid poet and writer who has authored a few books.

Does he have a count of the crosswords he has created? “I could not send all my works to Limca records officials, I could dispatch only 30, 236 crosswords created till 2015 which they have considered. If I include all my work till date, it could run into 40,000.”

The crosswords come with clues and Prahalad has painstakingly provided over 12 lakh clues to fill up the spaces. "Even now, I create at least 3 crosswords a day. The common crosswords of 9x9 and 10x10 are completed in 15-20 minutes, the ones on general knowledge or cinema, take more than half an hour as I have to do research to come up with the right questions and answers,” he explains.

Would he be heartbroken if his record was broken? A smiling Prahalad replies, "I do not intend to give up my passion. I know it will be difficult to break my record."

His crosswords have already been compiled in volumes and published. But Pralahad knows that he and his crosswords have to evolve to remain in the reckoning and is now developing a crossword mobile app which will be unveiled soon to keep the brain ticking.

It’s an avid passion for the unusual which has elevated Prahalad to the status of an icon, who keeps readers everywhere searching and straining for the right word. And it’s a passion which just can’t fade away, maybe because of the challenge it offers the human mind.