Thank You, Bee Fest!!

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 5^th followed by semi-final rounds on October 6^th and the grand finale on October 7^th. 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.