In the know of things
Let’s begin with the question that did the trick. ‘The largest city in northern Haiti was renamed following Haiti’s independence from France. What is the present-day name of this city?’ The answer, out of one’s reach in most cases, is Cap-Haïtien.
These and many rounds of equally unmanageable questions on world geography helped Aadith Moorthy, the 13-year-old, Class VIII student of Palm Harbor Middle School in the USA to win the 2010 National Geographic Bee. The title also brought along a $25,000 college scholarship, lifetime membership of the National Geographic Society and a trip to the Galápagos Islands. “There were over four million students participating, all of them equally hardworking, but I was sure of my ‘20 facts a day for four months’ preparation,” says the winner in a telephonic interview with this paper from the USA.
The feat at the annual geography contest — founded in 1989 in response to the perceived lack of geographic knowledge among youngsters in the USA — made Moorthy give an hour to world geography after his school studies and about eight hours during weekends. With Moorthy being a classical (Carnatic) music concert singer, there was no way he could devote time to music during the contest preparation. “However, I will be in India (Benga-luru and Chennai), where I have a couple of concerts,” says the busy kid. Wonderful! But what about some fun activities? “At times I do miss birthday parties etc, but if you have recognition in the form of the National Geographic Bee and acclaimations in music and maths, it’s worth that miss. One needs to prioritise,” says this very professional teenager, who is basking in the sunshine of his accolades these days!
Looking back at the question fielded at him, Moorthy is modest to accept that he was the only contestant to answer incorrectly in the first round. “I would have been eliminated if I was wrong again. I was scared, but never gave up,” says the whizkid who aspires to become a physicist in the future. “Astronomy appeals to me the most. I have a telescope at home and have seen all the planets and the stars with it,” he says, adding, “I have read almost all the books written by Steph-en Hawking and aim to be like him.”
Right now this young man is looking forward to his concerts, spread over two months, and he plans to use his scholarship money for higher studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology, a college he aspires to join.
With his dreams including going to outer space, Moorthy’s message to
others trying for competitions like the National Geographic Bee is, “Mehnat ka phal meetha hota hai (the fruits of hard work are always sweet). One
just needs to be confident and cool headed.”
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