Who's got the best word?

By Laila Nasry

Except for the occasional hushed whisper, a deep silence extended throughout the room. At each table two people sat, facing each other, heads bent, concentration written all over their faces, their eyes glued to the board before them and their hands hovering over their tile racks.

This was the scene at the Amethyst Room of the Colombo Hilton, last Sunday, October 17, when the Sri Lanka Association for Senior Citizens organised its first Scrabble tournament for those over 50 years of age.

This Scrabble tournament is part of a series of activities like Bridge, Rumy, Tombola, 304, that have been planned by the association to stimulate and enrich the lives of senior citizens. Instead of languishing in their homes, activities like these give them a golden opportunity to air some otherwise hidden talent.

Since it was the first time that the Senior Citizens Association was organising a competition of this nature, they approached the Sri Lanka Scrabble League, who readily lent their support and assistance. "The Scrabble League helped co-ordinate and conduct the entire tournament," said Ms. Shaila Amalean, its Chairperson. "We helped in the format of the tournament and in making the participants more aware of the rules of the game which we posted and also read out to them before the beginning of the tournament."

Ms Amalean said for a first-time tournament the turnout was very good. The 50 participants were enthusiastic and lively and to add to it all, the Senior Citizens Association had collected gifts which were awarded at every round, adding to the general excitement.

Dr. Lalantha Amerasinghe, the President of the Scrabble League and also a participant in the tournament said competitions of this nature for older people were a good forum to get them to compete, for more and more older folk play social Scrabble than competitive Scrabble.

Dr Amerasinghe first bought a Scrabble board in 1976 in England. "It used to be pretty lonesome back there in England," he said. He used to while away his spare time playing Scrabble with his wife. When he returned to Sri Lanka in 1980 he joined the Scrabble League. Though in the medical profession, he managed to devote some of his time to nurture his love for the game reserving his Sunday afternoons, from 1-6 p.m. just for this.

Though having played for many years in various competitions, it was at this competition that he got his highest score of 131 points for the word "Dilaters" which also bagged the highest score of the tournament. He says a lot of preparation is needed to play the game. He doesn't study word sheets but plays with the computer to improve his game. This is an excellent method, which he recommends to young Scrabble players. Schools should make this facility available to them, he adds.

Ms. Kamini Dharmadasa, the runner-up of the Scrabble tournament was one of the founder members of the Scrabble League. This affable lady coaches the Scrabble enthusiasts at Ladies College. She became hooked on the game having first played aboard a ship to England. Since then she has participated in about six competitions. The highest score she has got was through "vaqueros" which means South American cowboy. The more she plays the game, the better she gets, she says. When she plays with her friends they decide on playing only three or four letter word games. That way it helps her remember more words. "I can recall around hundred two letter words by heart," she says with a smile.

This tournament was special for Goolbai Gunesekera. Not only was it her first competitive tournament but she is also the donor of the challenge trophy which is in memory of her mother Deshabandu Clara Motwani. For Goolbai, scrabble is a social game-be it while playing with her mother when she was ten years old or presently with her husband or her friends. Other than donating the trophy she also encourages the students of Asian International School of which she is Principal, to take up Scrabble and plays with them herself. "I get beaten by a ten-year-old boy from school." To better her game she studies words off the book printed by the Scrabble League and at times plays against herself.

The tournament was won by Shirley de Silva, a lawyer who has been a Scrabble enthusiast for the past 20 years. Though he has been taking part in the All Island Scrabble Competition for the past ten years this was the first time he has won a competition. He too feels that to improve one's game one must keep playing as that is the easiest way to remember words. Though being an avid chess player in the past, Mr. de Silva now opts for Scrabble. "Chess takes too much time and is more complicated as it is based on tactics," he says. Though being one of the most junior of the senior citizens he feels that organising competitions of this nature for senior citizens is very good. "It stimulates them and keeps them occupied."

At the end of the day the winners were Shirley de Silva, Ms. Kamini Dharmadasa second with Bernadette Silva being placed third. The plate champion was Pratap Gooneratne while second and third place went to Delryn Wijesinghe and Hudlah Mather.

As the Amethyst Room emptied that evening amidst loud chatter and laughter, one thing was for sure- every person who had gathered there had had a most enjoyable time!

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