E-Paper
Young bright sparks
Every ceiling, when reached, becomes a floor? to help push the bar further up and match higher standards. This holds so true for Pranav Pathak and Vaibhav Biswal of St Fidelis College who won for Lucknow, the second runners-up trophy in the Hindustan Times National Quiz Competition ?InQuizitive-2006? final held at New Delhi recently.
Every ceiling, when reached, becomes a floor… to help push the bar further up and match higher standards. This holds so true for Pranav Pathak and Vaibhav Biswal of St Fidelis College who won for Lucknow, the second runners-up trophy in the Hindustan Times National Quiz Competition ‘InQuizitive-2006’ final held at New Delhi recently. With a winsome smile, these students says it’s been biggest achievement of their life… so far! “Qualifying InQuizitive at the local level and then getting an opportunity to compete at the national level was a big thing for us,” say Vaibhav and Pranav. They were also very excited to meet ace quizmaster Siddharth Basu.
Pranav says, “Six teams from Jaipur, Bhopal, Lucknow, Chandigarh and Delhi competed at the national level. There were eight rounds and we were leading till the fourth round. We found ourselves no less to the other teams from across India. It was also so motivating to see a huge audience and supporters cheering us with drums.”
Though, they couldn’t make it to the top, yet knowing the ‘deciding answer’ gave them a relief. “The difference between the winning team of St Columba’s, Delhi and us was just five points. We lost 25 marks straight due to negative marking and this turned the scenario,” say Vaibhav and Pranav. Since then, hating this trend of negative marking in quizzes, they firmly believe in perseverance and hard work. “We fought till the end and it is being in the game that matters.” It were just fractions of a second in the buzzer round which brought Jawaharlal Nehru School of Bhopal into the game and they stood first runners-up. It was really tough to lose to them by just one point,” says Pranav.
The kids’ success was not after overnight preparation but by tremendous support from their school.
An ardent newspaper reader Vaibhav says he takes out at least two hours daily to read a newspaper. Pursuing his Class XI studies with Physics, Chemistry and Maths, he aspires to become a space scientist. He idolises President APJ Abdul Kalam. Besides, he is thankful to his parents for their support. Vaibhav who thinks books and literature are his strong point in a quiz competition. He has developed this spirit to face challenges since he scored 51st rank in NSTSE (National Science Talent Search Examination). “It was then, that I thought that I could do something,” says Vaibhav.
For Pranav, who regrets that he couldn’t qualify the zonal round of the Bournvita Quiz Contest (BQC), this was a worthy platform. A student of Biology in Class XI, he says, “I feel something within myself whenever I hear about Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad, and I simply love them. I wish I can do something for my country like them.” He aspires to become a doctor or Civil servant. He idolises his grandfather.
Excited about the prizes, both achievers are all praise for their teacher Jhuma Bhattacharjee who has constantly supported them.