Since we’ve had so many posts on kids lately, thus taking our mind off more troubling matters, I thought I’d throw a post into the mix as well. Remember Karan Takhar? He came in second place a few months ago in the National Geographic Bee. Indian Americans were denied a coveted “bee” crown. Well, on Thursday in Budapest, Hungary, Karan redeemed himself with the help of two teammates. Voice of America reports:
A team of three American school students has won the National Geographic World Championship in Budapest, Hungary Thursday. The team from Russia came in second and Canada was third.
Looking relieved three teenagers of the United States received the golden medals in an Olympic style ceremony at the end of the National Geographic World Championship in the Palace of the Arts in Budapest.
They received them after a nerve wrecking hour, which included burning questions on the capital of Slovakia, an egg-laying mammal, and questionable election practices in Zimbabwe.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that one of the three Russians walked up to Karan before the bout and whispered, “I will break you.” This made their eventual loss all the more difficult.
Less impressed with the American victory was the Russian team, which came in second.
The two boys and one girl wearing silver medals found it difficult to smile. 15-year old Ivan Prokhorov from Murmansk, explained why Russia should have won. “From one hand I am happy because it is the best result in Russian history. But from the other hand I feel upset a little bit, because we could be the first. Because we are intelligent enough to win this competition but something happened, I don’t know what,” he said.
The Globe and Mail asked Karan what he thought of the experience:
“It’s such a great experience but once you’re done, it’s really tiring,” said Karan, adding that his plan was to “sleep first, then celebrate.”
Think you got what it takes? Try for yourself.
“Unconfirmed reports indicate that one of the three Russians walked up to Karan before the bout and whispered, “I will break you.””
Unconfirmed reports? Are you sure it’s not just someone whose been watching Rocky IV one too many times?
Congrats, you got the joke. Give yourself one gold guptastar.
Huh. Taking that quiz was an unexpected self esteem boost. I always thought I sucked at geography. I guess it’s all relative. . .but it also made think about the nature of these bees and how one has to think to do well in them. I think this is a much cooler Bee than the spelling Bee, b/c the practical skill of the spelling Bee is sort of outdated. And it’s much easier to do well in this Geography sort of thing if you place the facts in context, so it’s encouraging a genuinely good understanding of the world. Plus it probably comes attached to all kinds of National Geographic goodies, which is also more about knowledge, less about just-random-facts. It would be great to read in ten or 15 years that this Takhar has grown up to be a star ecologist or journalist or diplomat.
OMG you’re the same saheli from snarkmarket! You left a comment in the RealPlaya post! WOWOWOWOW! P.S. WHERE IS PUNJABI BOY?
I wood be the spolling champion but eye am dyslexic.
Those Russian kids hold some serious delusions of grandeur, wot? I hope those silver medals go green real fast.
I did the geography bee in my school in 5th grade, but never made it out, shameful desi that i am. I will try harder by taking it out on my yet-to-be born kids.
Spelling bees seem a little outdated, given that most kids these days are dead lazy and use spellcheck in their MS office programs, rather than learn how to spell anything. Or else they spell everything AOL/IM style…
i won my school spelling bee 3 straight times in school, once as a 6th grader who beat out the 7th and 8th graders. i had visions in my head of P. Diddy lifestyle of girls and parties. Unfortunately it just got me beat up and my house egged. When my kids are of school age, they’re grounded if they make the honor roll and i’m forcing them to smoke.
While Spelling Bees might be somewhat quaint, I hardly think spelling is an outdated skill. I can’t be the only one annoyed by the idiocy people inflict when writing (since spell-check isn’t EVERYWHERE).
Both Bees are a good thing, if a kid is interested in/good at the subjects they test. Everyone needs an activity to feel special about. For me (and a certain other mutineer), it was debate. 😀 Mmmm, nerdery!
i agree, though I joke about the nerdiness of bees and olympiads, i really enjoyed the spelling bees and social studies olympiads i was part of….i know it irritates me to no end when ppl confuse basic words such as “no” and “know”, “your and you’re” and of course, “lose and loose”. The geography/social studies olympiads were always exciting for me as I got to go to state competitions and it helped me learn and know the world w/o ever goign to half those places. Now when I travel, a lot of that stuff helps me out. But i still maintain that i will not dress my son up in a suit when he’s 3 yrs old for any social event, as if he’s going for a job interview….my parents had a suit for me w/ a bow tie every time we stepped out of the house. Complete w/ obligatory sweater underneath my baniyan bcuz it was only 75 degrees outside.
how many Aca-Dec nerds on the mutiny? (academic decathlon, or whatever they call it by region)
I used to be like that, but I’ve noticed that I’ve developed some kind of problem where I can’t write correctly anymore most of the time. I think it’s getting a little better, but I don’t think I’ll ever get back to the point where I write correctly all the time. It’s very sad for me, because I used to be a grammar / spelling nazi also, and now I’ve been thrown in the camps.
because I used to be a grammar / spelling nazi
i’m not too wound up over grammar but spelling just drives me off the wall, particularly when highly educated people can’t see how dumb it looks to write things like these (all corporate emails too I might add!)
“Know one I no agrees w/ you”
“I think the Pistons will loose tonight”
“Is this you’re spreadsheet?”
“If he had passed the ball they would’ve one”
Grrrrr….
haha karan goes to my school