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Indian kids hold US Spellbound: The Times of India
Washington, May 31:: In the end, it all boiled down to `pococurante`. Summoning a degree of nonchalance after six nerve-wracking hours of wordathon, Sai Gunturi, a 13-year old eighth grader from Dallas, Texas, spelled out p-o-c-o-c-u-r-a-n-t-e (which means nonchalance) to win the 76th US National Scripps Howard Spelling Bee Championship.
Washington, May 31: : In the end, it all boiled down to 'pococurante'. Summoning a degree of nonchalance after six nerve-wracking hours of wordathon, Sai Gunturi, a 13-year old eighth grader from Dallas, Texas, spelled out p-o-c-o-c-u-r-a-n-t-e (which means nonchalance) to win the 76th US National Scripps Howard Spelling Bee Championship.
There was a brief collective gasp from the audience followed by a deafening cheer as the judges confirmed that Sai had got it right to beat New York's Evelyn Blacklock, his only remaining rival (from 251 finalists). She had earlier fluffed on 'gnathonic' (which means fawning attention; she was misled into spelling it 'nathonic' because the 'g' is silent).
As the young man in braces collected the trophy and a $ 12,000 winners check – with lots more to follow – his parents Lakshmi and Sarma Gunturi, who were about the most relaxed among the frenzied scores who witnessed the nail-biting daylong finale, swept him into their arms.
Among the words Sai spelt correctly en route to the title were marmoraceous, mistassini, solfeggio, voussoir, halogeton, dipnoous, peirastic, rhathymia.
With each passing year, the spelling bee competition has become tougher, more dramatic, and had a wider audience. This year's event, telecast live on ESPN and watched in schools and homes across the country, acquired an added timbre following the critical acclaim received by a documentary called Spellbound which captures the heart-stopping suspense and behind-the-scenes tension and agony of the competition.
The event is also widely covered in the mainstream American media, in part because it is hosted by a media house, and top participants are sponsored by their hometown newspapers.
Sai was sponsored by the Dallas Morning News, which not only profiled him extensively before the competition, but splashed his victory on page one on Friday.
For the Gunturis, spelling has become a family affair. Sai's sister Nivedita is a 1997 finalist and he had to beat his brother Abhiram in the state level finals this year to advance to the national round.
In fact, Sai's story is one of perseverance and progress. This was his fourth appearance at the national finals. He placed 32nd in 2000, 16th in 2001, 7th in 2002, before bagging the crown on Thursday.
From all indications, Sai Gunturi's win is also an affirmation of the image of Indian-American kids as super-achievers. This has been a particularly good month for them. Nine Indian-Americans were among the 137 White House scholars announced recently, several made the finals of the Intel science talent hunt and Lucent scholarships, and two were in the National Geographic Bee finals.
It is now widely acknowledged that their presence and achievements in schools, colleges and academia is totally disproportionate to their small numbers – less than one per cent of the US population.
In fact, there were about 25 kids from the sub-continent from the 251 spelling bee finalists culled from more than ten million school contestants who vie to come to Washington each year for the finale. And up until the final moments, it was not Sai, but another Indian-American kid, nine-year old Samir Patel, who had the crowd in raptures.
The precocious third-grader, who like Sai is also from Texas, dazzled the audience not only with his spelling talent, but also his chutzpah.
Given a very difficult word to spell (tocopherol) he asked the judges if they meant a compound occurring in vitamins, and when confirmed, pumped his fists before spelling it. Faced with several French-origin words in succession, he asked them. "Is it just my luck, or am I getting all the French words?"
He was finally felled by boudin, a French sausage, which he spelt as 'boudane'. Tears escaped his eyes as he fell into his mothers arms, as it did with many in the audience who then gave him a standing ovation.
By then Sai and Samir, who got to know each other only during the weeklong event in Washington and became good friends, had put an indelible Indian-American face on the competition.
Following his victory Sai told the media that he hoped to become a genetic engineer - his father is a chemical engineer - after attending to the more youthful task of spending his prize money on video games.
As for Samir, he wants to come back next year to take a crack at the championship - when he is all of ten.
There was a brief collective gasp from the audience followed by a deafening cheer as the judges confirmed that Sai had got it right to beat New York's Evelyn Blacklock, his only remaining rival (from 251 finalists). She had earlier fluffed on 'gnathonic' (which means fawning attention; she was misled into spelling it 'nathonic' because the 'g' is silent).
As the young man in braces collected the trophy and a $ 12,000 winners check – with lots more to follow – his parents Lakshmi and Sarma Gunturi, who were about the most relaxed among the frenzied scores who witnessed the nail-biting daylong finale, swept him into their arms.
Among the words Sai spelt correctly en route to the title were marmoraceous, mistassini, solfeggio, voussoir, halogeton, dipnoous, peirastic, rhathymia.
With each passing year, the spelling bee competition has become tougher, more dramatic, and had a wider audience. This year's event, telecast live on ESPN and watched in schools and homes across the country, acquired an added timbre following the critical acclaim received by a documentary called Spellbound which captures the heart-stopping suspense and behind-the-scenes tension and agony of the competition.
The event is also widely covered in the mainstream American media, in part because it is hosted by a media house, and top participants are sponsored by their hometown newspapers.
Sai was sponsored by the Dallas Morning News, which not only profiled him extensively before the competition, but splashed his victory on page one on Friday.
For the Gunturis, spelling has become a family affair. Sai's sister Nivedita is a 1997 finalist and he had to beat his brother Abhiram in the state level finals this year to advance to the national round.
In fact, Sai's story is one of perseverance and progress. This was his fourth appearance at the national finals. He placed 32nd in 2000, 16th in 2001, 7th in 2002, before bagging the crown on Thursday.
From all indications, Sai Gunturi's win is also an affirmation of the image of Indian-American kids as super-achievers. This has been a particularly good month for them. Nine Indian-Americans were among the 137 White House scholars announced recently, several made the finals of the Intel science talent hunt and Lucent scholarships, and two were in the National Geographic Bee finals.
It is now widely acknowledged that their presence and achievements in schools, colleges and academia is totally disproportionate to their small numbers – less than one per cent of the US population.
In fact, there were about 25 kids from the sub-continent from the 251 spelling bee finalists culled from more than ten million school contestants who vie to come to Washington each year for the finale. And up until the final moments, it was not Sai, but another Indian-American kid, nine-year old Samir Patel, who had the crowd in raptures.
The precocious third-grader, who like Sai is also from Texas, dazzled the audience not only with his spelling talent, but also his chutzpah.
Given a very difficult word to spell (tocopherol) he asked the judges if they meant a compound occurring in vitamins, and when confirmed, pumped his fists before spelling it. Faced with several French-origin words in succession, he asked them. "Is it just my luck, or am I getting all the French words?"
He was finally felled by boudin, a French sausage, which he spelt as 'boudane'. Tears escaped his eyes as he fell into his mothers arms, as it did with many in the audience who then gave him a standing ovation.
By then Sai and Samir, who got to know each other only during the weeklong event in Washington and became good friends, had put an indelible Indian-American face on the competition.
Following his victory Sai told the media that he hoped to become a genetic engineer - his father is a chemical engineer - after attending to the more youthful task of spending his prize money on video games.
As for Samir, he wants to come back next year to take a crack at the championship - when he is all of ten.