BASAVANAGUDI: A Bengaluru public relations officer has compiled a mind-boggling 29,258 crosswords over 30 years.
A N Prahlada Rao is a cruciverbalist (creator of crosswords) for Kannada publications, and the body of work is the highest created by an individual in any Indian regional language.
Rao has made it to the latest Limca Book of Records and was felicitated in Jaipur recently.
The PRO for a private engineering college had earlier served the Bengaluru municipal corporation, BWSSB and the Pollution Control Board, all in a public relations capacity. Rao retired as the senior assistant director of the Department of Information and Public Relations.
Most people who meet him are not aware of his talent and passion for crosswords.
From the first crossword in 1984 in a Kannada film magazine, his pieces have appeared in 43 publications, including leading Kannada newspapers and magazines.
It calls for discipline, says Rao. “I have created at least eight to 10 crosswords every day for the last three decades, spending four to five hours a day,” he explains.
And he works on his crosswords even during holidays and vacations. The work is such that he must meet his deadlines even when he has other family responsibilities.
“Even on the days my father and mother passed away, I created crosswords,” he says.
So how did it all start? Born in 1953 at Abbani village in Kolar district, he did not reveal any boyhood signs of his talent.
Later, as a B Sc (mathematics and physics) student of the First Grade College in Kolar, he began spending a huge part of his class hours solving crosswords. The ‘backbencher’ scored just 42 per cent in his degree exams. “I slowly started making boxes for crosswords at that stage,” he told City Express.
Rao was ambitious enough in his twenties to launch his own daily newspaper, Honnudi, which ran for four years. However, it did not have a single crossword in any of its issues.
“Unfortunately, the lack of advanced printing technology in Kolar prevented me from carrying crosswords in my paper,” he said. “But I always had that deep desire.”
Wife’s support His family has been solid in its support.
When he got his first break to create crosswords in a Kannada film magazine, his wife Mallika, a high school teacher who reads extensively on Kannada cinema, helped him with the research.
His son Bhargav is a software engineer, and now helps him with a series of cricket crosswords being published for the World Cricket Cup season. His other son is also a software engineer. His daughters-in-law are also techies.
His crossword work has also been published in seven books. Among his other books is a biography of actor Rajkumar, Bangarada Manushya, translated into English as Dr Rajkumar: The Inimitable Actor with a Golden Voice. A few awards have come his way, including the Kempegowda award presented by the BBMP, and the Aryabhata award.
Rao is disappointed that the profession does not bring any money, especially in the regional languages, in proportion to the effort. “I used to get `10 to `15 for a crossword when I began, and it has gone up to a maximum of `150 now,” he says.
Since crosswords don’t carry bylines, their creators don’t win recognition like other creative people, Rao rues, but such considerations are not going to stop him.