Since my livelihood involves teaching English, I feel gravitated to record how Pakistan’s youngsters are passionate about playing Scrabble. Apparently, in Pakistan, Scrabble is a tool for aspirational socio-mobility. A professional Scrabble coach featured in a newspaper report shared that he earns 7 times the minimum wage — and his impact is astounding since he coaches 6000 students across Karachi’s schools system. Such high levels of dedication among the Pakistanis is the reason why the country frequently produces champions in competitive Scrabble competitions.

This kinda captures my interest because I’m not particularly interested in Scrabble. This is probably why I’m not familiar with words like trienes (chemical compounds containing h th ter double bonds) even though I studied Chemistry up to college level. I then heave a sigh of relief, knowing that other words that I don’t use at all — dastardly, miscreants, and nefarious — are considered antiquated English (even if they are still in common usage in Pakistan).

It’s intriguing how English wields its influence in different ways among different cultures. If an Indian spelling bee champion were to duel with a Pakistani Scrabble victor in an English exam, who would be crowned the winner? Such cross-cultural questions fascinate my mind.