Page 36 - EW June 2023

Young Achievers

supplements of national dailies and Stephen Heller.
magazines. Open to soloists and ensembles
“By the time I was six, I had in the 6-36 years age group, the
started reading Satyajit Ray’s clas- objective of the annual competi-
sics, Agatha Christie’s crime novels, tion — held in online mode — is to
Ruskin Bond and unabridged plays strengthen interest in culture and
of Shakespeare. I strongly believe art, establish partnerships between
that wide reading is the foundation contestants and musicians of Israel.
of good writing,” says this prescient The elder of two children of Kapil
teen. Lad, marketing head of a Singapore-
The awards and recognition she based start-up, and Ankita, finance
has received is a huge motivation. manager of a multinational, Aarav, a
“I submit my creative works for any class IV student of Bengaluru’s Ekya
competition that comes my way for School, JP Nagar, is quietly exuber-
the exposure and valuable feed- ant about his recent achievement.
back. I am very grateful to school “I am very grateful to my teachers
principal Damayanti Mukherjee for — Bengaluru-based concert pianist
ANANDINI SENGUPTA encouraging me to write scripts for Natallia Kapylova and Belarus-based
Liudmila Drazhnik — with whom I
school plays and uploading all my
award-winning stories on the school have trained in person and online
class X student of Kolkata’s website,” she says. over the past year. I am also lucky
top-ranked Modern High With a deep interest in history, to have full school and parental sup-
A School (MHS) for Girls, this young writer is intent upon do- port,” says Aarav, who has recently
Anandini Sengupta (15) is still ing a bachelor’s in the subject after written the London College of Music
savouring the sweet taste of success, completing higher secondary educa- Grade V exam.
months after her short story Hope tion. “Histories are essentially stories “Last year (2022) after we moved
Floats was selected from 10,000 with description and analysis. Study- to Bengaluru from Mumbai, my par-
entries and published by Scholastic ing this subject is certain to improve ents bought me an upright acoustic
Publishers in an anthology titled my writing skills,” says this young piano, my most prized possession,”
Teen Tales. The Top 16 entries of writer, who has acquired maturity says Aarav, who follows a daily prac-
aspiring teenage authors in India beyond her years. tice regimen of one hour and three
were published last November Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata) hours on weekends.
(2022). Other than music, young Aarav
That’s not all. Last April (2022), enjoys solving math puzzles, speed-
this budding short form narratives cubing, reading and playing badmin-
writer-poet bested 700 entries AARAV LAD ton. “I intend to combine music and
worldwide to win the Elmbridge math in higher education. Although I
Literary Competition (UK) 2022, enjoy playing Western classical com-
for a story titled The Red River after engaluru-based Aarav Lad (9) positions, I hope to compose my own
bagging the city-based daily The was adjudged first runner-up music someday,” says the virtuoso in
Telegraph’s Under-18 Award for Bin the 9-11 age group among the making.
Creative Writing in March. Still ear- 120 solo pianists in the fifth online Wind in your sails!
lier in October 2021, Anandini won edition of the International Festival- Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)
the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Contest ‘Music of the World,’ staged
Commended Poet award of the Po- in Israel in March. The competition
etry Society, London, for her poem attracted contestants
The Mosquito while her story Home from 24 countries
Is Where the Heart Is won the Leyla worldwide.
Beban Young Authors Foundation Debuting in his first
(USA) $1,000 for the 1,000 words international compe-
Creative Writing Contest award. tition, this pre-teen
Competitive writing is second prodigy wowed the
nature to all members of the Sen- jury with his technical
gupta household. Mother Nandini, skills, creativity, and
a commerce teacher at MHS, won interpretation of the
first prize in a competition organ- modern 1.5-minute
ised for teachers of Commonwealth composition of Kevin
nations in 2016 among several other Olson’s Time Traveler
awards. Her father Anandamoy followed by the 3-min
Sengupta, an IT telecom profes- Allegro of Danish
sional, loves weaving tales, while musician Friedrich
grandfather Prithwish Dasgupta Kuhlau and Etude of
was a regular contributor to weekly Hungarian composer

36 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2023