Winners take it all
American
children of Indian origin are sweeping every academic prize in the US. A look
at how they do it
It was 5.30 in the morning. Too
early for Varun Jain. He liked to sleep late, especially as school had closed
for the summer vacation. His father, Vivek, a California physician, was up,
however, and online. He wanted to check Varun’s SAT score. It was a perfect
2,400, a national record for an eighth-grader.
Varun didn’t have to take that test,
which determines college readiness. He still has a couple of years to go. But
his parents were running out of challenges for him. So he took the test, and
killed it. Varun heard the score, when woken up, mumbled “Wow” and went right
back to sleep, leaving it to the family to tell relatives here and in
Hyderabad, India, where they are from.
Varun is an exceptional 14-year-old.
And you might leave it at that, wish him well and move on, if not for the fact
that he’s part of a wave of American children of Indian origin sweeping every
academic prize in the land.
Here is the honour roll for 2013.
Arvind Mahankali won the Scripps Spelling Bee, Sathwik Karnik won the National
Geographic Bee, Ashwin Sah came second in Mathcount, Nilai Sarda grabbed third
position in Jeopardy Teen, Arjav Rawal won the Rudd’s National Elementary
School Spelling Bee... and now Varun.
Indian Americans have so dominated
the Spelling Bee — winning it six times in a row now — that a late-night
comedian has taken to calling it the Indian Superbowl. It is one, indeed.
The waterfront venue of the contest
on the outskirts of Washington DC increasingly resembles every year an event
from any Indian school. It’s an annual jamboree for the Indian American community,
gathering to celebrate their growing prosperity in a country they came to as
complete strangers. While the tech revolution and Silicon Valley were shared
successes, victories at the Bees and other contests are their own, won through
their own hard work.
Seeds are sown at home, where high achieving
parents will settle for nothing but straight As, and nurtured outside, by a
community that prefers Bee trophies to soccer victories. Seven of the 10
finalists this year were of Indian descent. And the winner, of course, was
Arvind.
THE WINNER, A TYPE
Reporter: So, what are you going to
do with the prize money? Arvind: Save it for college. Reporter: How will you
celebrate? Arvind: I don’t know. Reporter: Have you ever tried knaidel (word
that won him the championship)? Arvind: No. Reporter: What will you do now?
Arvind: Study physics.
Study physics? Don’t you want to
take a break? Celebrate? Don’t you want to use a part of the prize money —
$30,000 — to buy yourself something, a pizza?
He had barely even allowed himself a
smile. Perched on a high stool, 13-yearold Arvind faced the cameras, dealing
calmly with the post-championship news conference that comes with the trophy.
Ratnam Chitturi was watching him from hundreds of miles away, on TV. He smiled,
approvingly. Arvind’s answers showed focus and discipline.
“He dropped everything to
concentrate on the Bee,” Chitturi said, many days later. “That’s what makes
Indian Americans special.” Chitturi runs a nationwide network of coaching
programmes mimicking the championships in minute detail to prepare Indian
American children. “There is no coincidence about hard work,” says Paige
Kimble, executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. She should
know, being a Bee champion herself.
Arvind woke up at 5 am every weekend
to prepare. “He never had to be told,” says his father, Srinivas. His focus was
on English words of German origin, which had tripped him in previous attempts.
So, when he got his first German word this time, he was ready.
CIRCLES OF SUPPORT
American
children have sports, Indian American children have the Bee, and its other
versions, such as the National Geographic Bee, Mathcount and so on. And like
soccer moms and dads, there are Bee moms and dads, who drive their children
from one contest to another.
Rathna
Karnik, a Massachusetts mother, is one.
A
software engineer like her husband, Vishwanath, Rathna decided to stay home to
help their sons through the difficulties of settling down. They came to the US
in 2002, basing themselves in Ohio, moving to Connecticut and, finally,
Massachusetts, where they’ve been for years.
Their
elder son Karthik first took a shot at the National Geographic Bee, making it
to the final twice, beating his younger brother Sathwik. Sathwik, 12, won in
2013.
Having
their mother at home helped, says the elder Karnik. And in Sathwik’s case,
having a brother going through the same process worked too. And then there were
the super coaches from Chetturi’s organisation, called the North South
Foundation.
In
the end, however, Sathwik’s victory was his own.
“He
used to take the daily quiz posted by National Geographic,” says Karnik. Once
again, on his own.
It’s
a generation that likes winning, on its own.
·
The North South Foundation prepares
American children of Indian origin for contests such as the Spelling Bee and
National Geographic Bee.
·
It runs 81 centres in 30 states and
holds countrywide competitions modelled on real contests in spelling,
vocabulary, math, science, geography, essay-writing, publicspeaking, and
coaching classes run by volunteers.
·
The money earned from participation
fees is used to pay for scholarships for needy students in India.
·
A total of 17,800 students
participated in the last programme, open only to Indian American students.
Yashwant Raj in Washington HT130714
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