Wordle

"...that was indeed ambitious..."

"...what a silly mistake...!"

"....I should have thought more..."

"...that's awesome...!"

These and other such lines probably get exchanged daily between friends across the world post midnight. Not 12 am IST or EST or GMT, but 12 am in their respective zones. If not in the few minutes post midnight, then probably in the first few hours of the next morning. 

Wordle has definitely taken the world by storm. It's like a mini-addiction that you would not mind getting addicted to. Because you know you just cannot lose much by getting addicted to something that's fun yet can only cost you a few minutes of your time daily. It has definitely ignited communication channels where friends end up literally discussing the word of the day and the way they approached it. It also  has showed us how people can control their excitement (and mind their conduct in a way) and not spoil the game for others by not disclosing the word of the day once they know it ( I remember unfriending someone I barely knew on FB in 2012 when I read him post "Kareena bhoot hai" while I was on the way to watch the movie Talaash ).

Another wonderful aspect of this game is how everyone approaches it. Almost everyone starts of with the aim of getting the word in 6 attempts. We even miss a few wordles early on and then it starts to challenge our competitive spirit. So then comes the tightening of the process. Some start with 2 or more vowels, some have a set of letters they feel are more common than the others, some (or may be its just me ) have the practice of starring with the same word daily ( more often than not, I start with "SUGAR" and the one 1st row &  2nd row hits were thanks to the sweet word ). The discipline to not touch the greens and to include the yellows in subsequent rows slowly firms up & you end up bettering yourself daily. While the game definitely needs a lot of luck (like any other game or event in our lives) it somehow does act like an exercise for the mind. Everyone watches how many attempts  their friends took to crack the word for the day and it further sparks a drive to do better & improve their skills & approach to the game.

I guess any sport or game that we play brings out our character in some way and it then requires us to mould our character to ensure we can thrive in the game. Wordle though simple, is no exception to this phenomena I believe. If you carefully dissect how you approach it daily, you'd probably end up learning more about yourself.

Here's my grid so far. The first few attempts where I took it lightly cost me the chance to get to a 100%. I know I can play this game forever and yet I cannot get a perfect 100%, but the idea is to get as close to 100% as I can, one wordle at a time.