Mathematically yours, Kumar of Bihar

Discovery channel is to dedicate its prime slot to showcase the mathematics wizard of Bihar, Anand Kumar, who has helped many deprived children get admission into the prestigious IITs, reports Arun Kumar.

Discovery channel is to dedicate its prime slot to showcase the mathematics wizard of Bihar, Anand Kumar, who has helped many deprived children get admission into the prestigious IITs.

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The story of the march of his institution into the hall of fame will now be recounted at 9 pm on March 14 and repeated thrice on March 15, 21 and 29.

Anand, who pioneered the Super 30 concept under the aegis of his Ramanujan School of Mathematics in Patna, has coached 30 children from deprived homes each year since inception of the concept.

The one-hour documentary on Super 30 showcases the ‘quest for learning’ by a talented bunch of students from mostly impoverished backgrounds and how they successfully chase their dreams to make it to IITs under the guidance of Kumar and his team.

“It is an amazing positive story about ambition, unflinching dedication and great struggle with meagre resources, which will inspire many others. It shows the real power of education to remake lives and communities,” said Rajiv Baxi, spokesman of Discovery channel, on the phone from Delhi. Baxi, producer Sudhir K.G. and their team were here for the shooting of the film.

Baxi said the documentary would be shown in the one-hour slot allocated for positive stories from across the country. “We visited Patna and the villages of students studying at Super 30. It is an inspirational story about overcoming adversity and disadvantages of birth through natural talent and hard work. I was impressed by the involvement of Anand,” Baxi said.

Earlier, a film on Super 30, directed by Christopher Mitchell, had won the coveted Audience Choice Award at the sixth Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. Prior to Mitchell, Yoichi Itoh for Japan Broadcasting Corporation, Emiko Amagawa of another Japanese channel and former Miss Japan Norika Fujiwara for TV Man Union had visited Super 30 and made 60-minute documentaries. A film was also shown on Qatar-based Al Jazeera channel.

Reacting to this, Kumar said he was happy not just for himself but also for Bihar, which had been showcased in a positive light at a time when there were serious talks about reviving the ancient splendour of Nalanda University.