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Young Achievers

commissioned officer which he opensource resources and software
has since accepted. Currently, he such as YouTube and Reddit. “It
serves with the Bombay Sap- was only when I was inducted into
pers — a regiment of the corps of the Summer of Making programme
engineers. 2020 that I realised coding chal-
The only child of civil contrac- lenges were common to all begin-
tor Harishchandra Karkera, and ners. Having mastered the language,
his wife Ashalata, a beautician, I contemplated creating YouTube
Suraj believes in the power of ed- videos. But instead because of lack of
ucation and recently completed written material on the subject, I de-
his commerce undergrad degree cided to write a simple applications-
from Mumbai’s Rizvi Education- oriented book. It took me a year to
al Complex. “My career in sport complete,” he recalls.
is as important to me as educa- While making opensource dis-
tion which I know will take me a coveries, in 2021 Krish came across
long way,” says Suraj. quibitbyquibit, which provides a
With an eye on the ongoing funded year-long college course in
F1H Hockey Pro League 2021-22 quantum computing. “My research
tournament, Suraj has intensi- proposals won 100 percent funding
fied his training to a rigorous ($700) from the multinational tech-
daily regimen of six hours at
SURAJ KARKERA Bengaluru’s Sports Authority of nology giant IBM,” says Krish.
Now a master of five program-
India. “My ultimate dream is to bring ming languages, Krish delivers on-
home an Olympics gold and the line lectures on the digital platform
t the Hero Asian Cham- Men’s F1H World Cup,” which might schoolhouse.world. “I attribute my
pions Tournament 2021 well come true for this gritty last line storytelling skills to my social stud-
Ain Dhaka last December, of defence player par excellence. ies teacher Gunjan Ma’am who had
India’s national men’s hockey team Dipta Joshi (Mumbai) the unique ability to spin tales from
goalie Naib Subedar Suraj Karkera history that kept me wide awake,” he
(26) was conferred the ‘best goal- recalls.
keeper’ award after Team India beat KRISH MITTAL After completing Plus Two, this
arch-rivals Pakistan 4-3 to win the whizkid is intent on signing up for a
bronze medal. computer science engineering degree
A boy wonder who took naturally elhi-based computer science programme. However, he intends to
to field hockey when he was only enthusiast and young author continue writing as well. “I have be-
nine, Suraj was selected to play DKrish Mittal (17) entered the gun ideating my second book of the
for the First XI of his alma mater International Book of Records last same series titled Let’s Learn Python
Children’s Academy, Malad (Mum- November (2021) for becoming the which I will complete after my class
bai). Under the tutelage of coach ‘youngest writer of an educational XII board exams. Moreover, I will
Marzban Patel, young Suraj quickly book’ Let’s learn C — self-published further develop my newly launched
developed excellent goal-keeping on Amazon in September 2020. educational platform worldoflearn-
skills to the extent that Patel recom- That’s not all. Earlier in the sum- ers.com,” he says.
mended his name for a national mer of the pandemic year 2020, this Way to go, bro!
junior hockey camp in Delhi in 2015 class XII student of Venkateshwar Autar Nehru (Delhi)
and introduced him to the world of Global School, Rohini, who signed
professional hockey. up for the ‘Summer of Mak-
It’s noteworthy that Marzban Pa- ing’ student programme of the
tel, a Dronacharya awardee (2019) Vermont (USA)-based Hack
has mentored and trained several Club, a non-profit network of
olympians and continues to train 14,000 high school computer
Suraj. hackers, makers and coders,
Suraj made his debut in the na- was awarded a research grant to
tional junior hockey team in 2015. develop an autonomous disaster
“I saved a penalty shot and enabled management robot, a project he
India to win the Junior Asia Cup had been ideating since middle
2015 against Pakistan,” he recalls. school.
Two years and 33 international The only child of business
tournaments later, Suraj donned couple Sumit and Nandita
national colours as member of Mittal, who run Delhi’s Choco-
India's gold-medal winning squad late Villa bakery, Krish took to
at the Asia Cup 2017. Impressed serious coding in class IX after
with his achievements, the Indian struggling to self-learn program-
Army offered him the post of junior ming language C for a year from

32 EDUCATIONWORLD APRIL 2022