Telugu boy spells his way to history Hyderabad: A Hyderabad family from Motinagar in SR Nagar suddenly finds itself in the limelight now that 13-yearold Arvind Mahankali has won the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee 2013 competition in Washington, USA. Arvind spelled his way to history by becoming the sixth Indian-origin American in a row to win the title. Arvind’s grandparents live in Tanuku in West Godavari district. His father Srinivas Mahankali, an IT consultant in New York who migrated to America in 1995, says, “Arvind made both New York and AP proud.” Mahankali, speaking to this newspaper from New York, added, “We are happy about his winning the Spelling Bee, which is watched by millions in the US.” An eighth grade student of Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School in Bayside, New York, Arvind had finished ninth in 2010 and third in both 2011 and 2012. This time around, Arvind spelled words like “Tokonoma” and “knaidel” correctly. Knaidel is a German-derived Yiddish word. In the past Arvind has been eliminated on words of German origin. His mother, Dr Bhavani, a nephrologist, says watching him was “very stressful.” “When there were two kids left, I was still not sure he would win,” she admits. Arvind says, “I love math and science and hope to one day pursue a career as a physicist. My role model is Albert Einstein. I can speak Telugu and Spanish. I play tennis, basketball. I am going to stop studying spelling and move on to physics and I am retiring on a good note!” he grins. His sibling Srinath also plans to follow in his brother’s footsteps. Srinath Mahankali, Arvind’s brother, says he’s proud, too. “I’m really happy that Arvind won,” he admits. “He’s my brother, and I just like to cheer him on,” he says. His final word on the subject: “I want to enter this competition, and I want to win it, just like Arvind did!”
Posted on: Sat, 01 Jun 2013 07:07:46 +0000