The event, scheduled from 1:30 to 3:30 pm, ended up running till 5 pm with newcomers and professionals alike to Scrabble engaging in a friendly competition with each other.[break]
Nepal Scrabble Club (NSC), which started eight months ago, is a non-profit organization, legally licensed under Mattel Inc., UK, and the Social Welfare Club, Kathmandu.
Part of upcoming series of scrabble meets seemed to have gained wide success with school students, artists, musicians and businessmen coming together to engage in a friendly game of scrabble.
“Scrabble is a very important game,” said Ramesh Lal Nakarmi, President at Nepal Scrabble Club, adding, “It helps people understand language, helps Nepali people understand this language more and helps them learn more.”
Ramesh informs us how while working in Europe and the Middle East, he saw many Nepali migrant workers engaged in very menial jobs, like dishwashers in kitchens, toilet cleaners or as domestic help, and very few Nepalis were hired as managers.
He tells us how these workers all lacked the proper communication skills and needed translators to translate even the basic commands that their managers gave.
“While working abroad, it all boils down to how well you can communicate in English, and the primary reason why Nepali workers were restricted to such menial jobs was their restriction with linguistic expression. People earn a lot of money as salespeople or as waiters but all these respectable jobs require good understanding of English, and this is what I think Nepalis lack. Scrabble is a platform that helps increase this grasp of English,” he added.
NSC promises more of such meets in the future. Along with the weekly meets, NSC is also planning on tournaments on district, regional and national levels.
NSC also plans on taking scrabble to schools, planning on making boards available in school libraries and hosting school tournaments amongst students and teachers. NSC also spills the beans on a tournament on an international level, planned to be held at Namche.
“I want to host the International Scrabble Tournament in one the highest places in the world so that it brings Nepal back on the map. We need to work on to separate the ‘Third World’ label from Nepal and I think scrabble is a small step towards achieving that goal. When people learn to grasp foreign language well, lots of reforms can occur in the society itself,” informed Ramesh.
The meet, attended by schoolchildren tackling the game for the first time and older ones familiar with the game, enjoyed scrabble together.
Playing against strangers, meeting new people and socializing took place on the undertone of the game and people connected with each other at a human level once again.
“Scrabble is more of a mind game. It helps your brain develop in many different ways. You start recalling forgotten words while getting familiar with new ones. It is learning and entertainment rolled into one simple package,” echoed 18-year-olds Ronaz Bhandari and Sajal Shrestha, and 16-year-old Maya Britto, all +2 students from St. Xavier’s School, Jawlakhel, enjoying a game at the meet.
“We invited different schools like Asian Public School, Occidental Public School, Pious Public School amongst others on the first day of our meet. We wanted students to get acquainted with the game so as to help them understand their English-based courses better and develop a firm grasp of this widely used language,” said Ujjwal Basnet, Communications Officer at Nepal Scrabble Club.
NSC is a free space for scrabble enthusiasts as well as beginners. The Club requires a registration fee of Rs 50 for students, Rs 150 for individuals, Rs 400 per family and Rs 500 for corporations.
Along with the registration fees, members have to pay an annual fee of Rs 600 for students, Rs 840 for individuals, Rs 2,400 for family, and Rs 4,800 for corporations.
The club does not receive funds from any foreign or local organizations; it is a self-funded project that sustains itself on members’ contributions.
“We want to make scrabble more accessible. So we’re planning to conduct these local meets every week at various public places where people can meet and play.
We have also made Scrabble boards available at Keshar Library and Kathmandu Public Library. We plan to take NSC national and have already started the process on making scrabble available outside the capital in places like Lukla, Namche and Pokhara with the help of local youth clubs based there,” informs Ramesh.
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