Growing up in the 80s, Scrabble was our go-to board game. My sister and I played with cousins, friends and kept getting better. By age 15, I was able to take down experienced, middle-aged players. Many years later, we sat down to wage war over words. At the time, I was based in the US and visiting India. I called my mother to the game, 'అమ్మ నువ్వు కూడా రా'. She declined, "లేదు రా, మీరు చాలా high levelలో ఆడుతారు…నా వల్ల కాదు." She was very good at telugu, and had limited skills in english. I couldn't help think, 'but it's such a nice game. It's fun, social and educational. అమ్మ ఆడలేకపోతోంది. మరి ప్రచంచంలో 32 భాషలలో ఉంది కదా? తెలుగులో ఎందుకు లేదు? Why is it not there in hindi?'
My talks with a few retailers in Hyderabad and Lucknow validated my feeling about the commercial viability of such a product. I decided to spend time and effort on creating an equivalent product in telugu and hindi (the two Indian languages that I knew pretty well).
Ran into a wall with the design...until a Eureka moment happened.
Went through a series of evolutions and discoveries.
2024, a new beginning.