Spelling bee and Indian kids - A History
Ever watched the Scripps spelling bee and wonder why is this competition crowded with Indian kids,where did this obsession around competitive spelling orginate among indian kids ???
So a little digging deep into the history and seeing what has been going on for the past 2 or 3 decades
The first Indian American to win a spelling bee was Balu Natarajan in 1985
Balu inspired others, who in turn became role models for more would-be champions. Since then 8 indian kids have won the championship in the last 25 years. Last Year Bee Champion was Sameer Mishra and runner up another Indian kid - Siddarth Chand
Sameer was motivated when his friend Anurag Kashyap won in 2005 and was coached by older sister Shruti, a three-time national bee participant.
Siddarth was a huge favorite going in this year though he finished in final 6.
This year winner Kavya appeared the 4th time and this was her last chance to win.
Her role model was Nupur Lala, who won the bee in 1999 and was featured in the documentary “Spellbound.”
Altogether there have been eight Indian-American champions, including six of the past 10.
Apart from winning there have been some child prodigy/ celeberity like Samir J Patil who finished 3rd when he was 8 years old, Samir unfortunately never won but finished second when he was 11 years old
He then went on to gaming shows in TV as a a celeberity,
He by far is my favorite in the competition
Check this videoand you would know why
http://www.truveo.com/samir-patel-leaves-his-mark-on-the-spelling-bee/id/3185202870
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