‘Ergasia diacoele blancmange huisache hydragyrum isagoge phoresy’. Hey people please wait. I am still speaking English. If you cant make sense (I couldn’t )ask Kavya Shivashankran, Speeling Bee champ. Kavya, a 13 year old from Kansas, is a veteran of the sorts in the Scripps National Spelling Bee Championship 2009. The opening line is just a random concatenation of the words that Kavya spelled flawlessly to lift the prestigious championship. The Jai-Ho word for Kavya was ‘laodicean’ which means indifferent or lukewarm specially in religious affairs. Kavya has strengthened the Indian-origin stranglehold by becoming the 9th Indian-origin champ. This is the third time Indian-origins are wining the title back to back. Last summer it was 13 year old Sameer Mishra and his title-clincher was guerdon (which means a reward).
Spelling Bee, one of the most famous national juvenile events, gets media coverage on par with any other events. The main sponsor for the event is E.W.Scripps Company, a diversified media firm operating out of Cincinnati. The event aims to improve school-going kids’ spelling skills, vocabulary and help them develop proper English usage.
The 82nd edition of the championship had 293 spellers making it to the final showdown in Washington D.C. Of these 32 kids were of Indian-origin. Kavya was one among the 41 who made it to the semi-final round. The words which she successful decoded in her journey to the acme were
- ergasia - integrated activity of both mental and physiological components
- kurta - long-sleeved shirt worn by Indian men
- escritoire - writing table of a secretary
- hydragyrum - mercury
- blancmange - a sweet pudding made of milk
- baignoire - a box of lowest tier in a theatre
- huisache - a tropical shrub with fragrant deep-yellow flowers
- ecossaise - a country-dance in quick duple meter
- diacoele - sorry people couldn’t find the meaning
- bouquiniste - used-book seller
- isagoge - a scholarly introduction to a field of study or research
- phoresy - zoological term meaning a non-parasitic relationship in which one species is carried about by the other
- laodicean.
The tall and composed Kavya was confidence personified during the whole of the on-stage rounds. She is one of the four four-timers in the competition and this was also her last attempt. In all her earlier attempts she finished in the top 10. Not even a trace of pressure was visible on her face as she stood facing the ‘Head Pronouncer ‘ reading out the title-clinching word . When asked later how she felt at that moment, she said ‘ Ya I knew the word and I was excited’. Kavya aspires to become a neuro-surgeon. Wish her all the very best in all her future endeavours.
Kavya is the 9th Indian-origin person to lift the championship. Chicago’s Balu Natarajan opened the Indian-origin tally in 1985. In the last ten years Indian-origin kids have won the title six times. The Indian stranglehold on the title is strengthening every year. Afterall what could be the secret behind this pattern. A popular joke says ‘ if your name is sivaramakrishnamoorthiyengar you can pretty well spell any word’.
In fact it is the parents’ pressure and peer pressure that are driving the Indian parents and children to come out and prove their mettle in such national events. Many immigrant communities of America have shone well in many endeavours like the Kenyans in a long-range athletics, Dominicians in baseball and so on. This shows that there is a cultural tinge to success. The North-South Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Illinois, has done tremendous job in supporting the immigrants' children in their academic excellence. They have put in place alter-Spelling-Bee platform with more than 60 chapters across the nation. It conducts this event just like a full-dress rehearsal. This years champ Kavya was the 2004 NSF champ. The NSF also holds such mock competitions for other famous children championships like Mathcounts and National Geographic Bee.
It is more than just a coincidence or cultural advantage or gene expression. It is sustained and coordinated efforts of an immigrant community. It is immigrant vigour personified. Because an immigrant community always faces the constant pressure to prove its merit in order to gain and sustain the acceptance of a larger soceity.
Spelling Bee has its fair share of criticism. Probably the most glaring one is that this competition compels the children to learn hundreds of words in an artificial way. For instance many medical terms, Spanish and Japanese words are supposedly learnt mostly out of their context. Such learning may not make any constructive contribution to the kids’ vocabulary and usage skills. The undue pressure exerted on the kids during the preparation and competition is something that is potentially damaging.
Spelling Bee, nevertheless plays an important role as a showcase of Indian talents. It seems that an Indian age is not too far and the role of diaspora would be crucial. Mark Twain said, ‘I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way’. Think a correction is on the cards.
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