Sushil Rai is the son of
my house owner and I had been knowing him since I joined Dalapchand Secondary
School last year. A standard eight student but unlike his other age group
students, I have hardly seen Sushil rubbing with his friend’s shoulder in any
form of sporting activity. A shy persona, restricted to his own separate innovative
world. I have at home seen him most of the time working with screwdrivers,
electrical kits, or sometimes using carpenter tools making him busy, far from
others.
Watching Sushil, I am
more often reminded of a television character ‘Lekhu’ from the serial Lekhu
that used to be aired on the Doordarshan channel during my school days. I
appreciate this little prodigy’s sincere approach toward his creative realm.
Without anyone’s help, he had been trying to redefine his creative thoughts. I
am sure if his inspired ideas are polished, I without hesitation believe he can
be a wonder to society.
When I first read about
‘Bee Fest 2012’ at Sikkim Express, I was one of the few who saw this as an
opportunity for inventive students like Sushil. Bee Fest 2012 is a mega
scholastic competition organized at Sikkim where more than 150 schools from
different corners of the state shall be competing in different competitions.
This huge first-of-its-kind event is organized by Sikkim Express and 24 Hours Inspired
along with BISK FARM. Bee Fest 2012 is about five scholastic competition that
includes a quiz, debate, spelling, innovative model, and Mr & Miss Bee. The
preliminary and quarter-final round will be held on October 5th followed
by semi-final rounds on October 6th and the grand finale on October
7th. The biggest news above all Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, former
President of India would be the Chief Guest of the finals.
I wonder how many
students are there in the rural sphere (I am here only talking about rural
areas since in urban such opportunities happens on a regular account) of Sikkim
waiting for an opportunity to showcase their individual talents. Bee Fest 2012 could
be an answer for them. I contacted Bee Fest through Facebook and invited them
to Dalapchand Secondary School. I even contacted them personally through phone
calls and collected more information. A day before collecting a confirmation
from the Bee Fest organizer I informed Sushil to bring his ‘working model of a
wooden ship that runs with a battery’ at school to display in front of the Bee
Fest 2012 team.
I got inspired by the
Innovate Model competition. I made up a purpose to visit every classroom of
my school looking for students with such innovative talents. I could not hide
my excitement when I found a couple of students making models at their homes of
things we less care about. There was one
Purna Kumar Rai from class vii who was making a working model of a railway
signal and a guy from class vi who had made a wooden vehicle that run through
battery and motor.
The very next day I was
very happy to see the Bee Fest 2012 vehicle on our school’s doorstep. I greeted
Diwakar Basnet, an acquaintance till then; his other team member and
accompanied them to the Headmaster’s office. Diwakar Sir (Chief Learning Officer, 24 Hours Inspired) explained the
Bee Fest 2012 in detail. In the end, I just talked to myself about why this
concept of inter-school scholastic competition had not started before. Nevertheless, something worth enjoying, as the saying goes ‘better late than late’.
Sushil’s self-made
wooden ship model sailed through the water bucket which was appreciated by
everyone. Even his subject teachers for the very first time watched his small
invention with joy and wonder. No doubt Sushil was the winner that day, an
appreciation and above all an open invitation to represent the school as one of
the ten participants at Bee Fest 2012 at TNA, Gangtok. Sushil Rai was also awarded
a Bee Fest 2012 badge and announced the Bee Fest 2012 student ambassador of the
school.
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