‘Spell-tacular gladiators’ armed with letters and words fought vigorously in the Coliseum of knowledge, and in times, like mystical beings, transforming into bees and butterflies collected nectar of letters to store in their arc-‘hives’ of achievements as the grand finale of the first edition of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s International Spell Bee, a spell-the-word contest, culminated at Indian Educational School, Kuwait in the most majestic manner on 09th February 2019.

The participating schools in India were divided into 5 zones, North Eastern Zone, Central West Zone, South Zone A, South Zone B1, South Zone B2. The knockout rounds of the Spell Bee Contest were held in five zones in India, viz. Panchkula, Tirupathi, Nagpur, Kochi and Kozhikode by the resource team of BISB. Bhavans Middle East is highly in awe of the unstinting support rendered by the Management and the initiative of Dr. Ashish Kumar Sarkar, the Principal of Bhavans Girdhardas Mohota Vidya Mandir, Hinganghat, Wardha for setting up flawless cohosting centres both for the Knockout Round and the Grand Finale of BISB. The Grand Finale was held in six different centers: Kuwait, India, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Ajman and Bahrain, simultaneously through the video conferencing mode, in two host centers Indian Educational School, Kuwait and Bhavans GVM, Hinganghat, India.

The arena brimmed with anxious spectators fidgeting in anticipation for the young gladiators fight it out for the coveted prizes. The chief guests, Dr. Shobha Vaddadhi, Director, Global English Indian School, Kuwait and Shri Basant Kumar Mohota, Chairman Hinganghat Kendra, India graced the day of grandeur in Kuwait and India respectively. Mr. Suresh. V. Balakrishnan Vice Principal Middle and Senior wing IES and Ms. Jaemi Byju, Head of Department of English, Middle and Senior wing IES were the chief pronouncers of the day in India and Kuwait respectively. Mr. E.P Prasad, senior faculty, Department of English, Ms. Muneera Mammikutty, Head of the Department of English, Primary wing IES and Mr. Sunil Kumar Menon, senior faculty, Department of Sanskrit and Bhavans’ International Spell Bee Kuwait Chapter Coordinator were the coordinators of the event. Contestants from different schools in Kuwait were categorized and seated on the dais with their counterparts sitting and fine tuning their brain cells at six different locations in the Middle East and in India in real time.

The programme started with the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran followed by the Kuwait National Anthem, Bhavan’s Anthem and Lighting of the lamp by the chief guest Dr. Shobha Vaddadhi, Mr. N. K. Ramachandran Menon, Chairman Bhavans Middle East and Mr. T. Premkumar, Principal, Indian Educational School, Kuwait. After the prayer song by the school choir, Mrs. Lalitha Premkumar, Vice Principal Primary Wing IES welcomed the gathering and shared with everyone her thoughts on life in general and language in particular. Mr. Suresh.v. Balakrishnan Bhavans’ International Spell Bee GCC and India Coordinator briefed the audience via teleconference on the importance of Bhavans Spell Bee and its impact on young linguists.

The spellers were taken for a fantasy ride of words of extreme complexity and simplicity, and they all gleefully rode along artfully dodging the cleverly laid traps of letters. The audience at different venues spanning across the Middle East and India, and the many thousands glued to the live streaming were literally entrapped by the beauty of one of the most adrenalin-rushing arcade games of the alphabet in the Asian continent. After three hours of brain racking, spell the word round, and an exciting and nail-biting tie-breaker round, the contest of letters came to an end with a bee dance by the charismatic students of IES breaking the spell and setting some fire work of elegant steps in the auditorium. Mr. T. Premkumar, principal, Indian Educational School, Kuwait declared the final result of the Bhavans International Spell Bee Championship.

The winners are: Category 1, Cute Bees: Saishree Vineetha , BVB Jubilee Hills Hyderabad (Champion), Aditi Arun, WISE, Ajman, UAE (1st Runner up) Jemi Eldho, Private International English School, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2nd Runner up), Rachana Redla, Bahrain Indian School, Bahrain (3rd Runner up) and Sharanya Rakesh, Indian Educational School, Kuwait (4th Runner up). Category 2, Sweet Bees: Thejas Shetty, Smart Indian School, Kuwait (Champion), Sanjana, BVB Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, India (1st Runner up), Aarush Sunil, Private International English School, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2nd Runner up), Sunish Sunil, Bahrain Indian School, Bahrain (3rd Runner up), Aditi Narayan, BVB Kozhikode, India (4th Runner up). Category 3, Honeybees: Thejas V.P, Private International English School, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E (Champion), Nevin Noji Vaidyan, Indian Educational School, Kuwait (1st Runner up), Khushi Manish, Bhavan’s Wardha, India (2nd Runner up), P. Bhavya Akshita, Bhavan’s Palakol, India (3rd Runner up), Steve Chalil Biju, Bahrain Indian School, Bahrain (4th Runner up). Category 4, Bumble Bees: Parthiv Varma, Al Saad Indian School Al Ain, U.A.E (Champion), P.V. Koushik, BVB Tirupati, India (1st Runner up), Rhea Pinto, Indian Educational School, Kuwait (2nd Runner up), Harshit Kamal, Private International English School, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E (3rd Runner up) and Nandini Arun, Bhavan’s Wardha, India (4th Runner up). Each champion took home $1500, a trophy and a certificate. Each of the 1st Runners up took $1250, a trophy and a certificate. Each of the 2nd Runners up took $1000, a trophy and a certificate. Each of the 3rd Runners up took $750 and a certificate. Each of the 4th Runners up took $500 and a certificate.

The day of class and caliber ended with a thought-provoking speech by the chief guest, Dr. Shobha Vaddadhi on the importance of spelling and words. She also exalted the efforts of the organizing committee for conducting such an energizing and enterprising educational game on a vast scale. The prominent guest of the day was presented a memento by Mr. N. K. Ramachandran Menon, Chairman, Bhavans Middle East as the token of love and respect from the Bhavans fraternity. The lucky draw, which followed, caused a ripple of excitement through the crowd as 10 lucky souls clasped Apple ipads to their fortunate hearts. The vote of thanks was proposed by Mrs. Meenakshi Nayyar, Vice Principal Co-Curricular Activities, IES. On behalf of Bhavans Middle East, she specially acknowledged and appreciated the sincere efforts and unstinting support rendered by Dr. Ashish Kumar Sarkar, the Principal of Bhavans, Hinganghat in ensuring a flawless cohosting center with all the required facilities. The emcees of the day were Ethen Boby Kurian and Nakshatra Neeraja Binu of IES. The Indian National Anthem drawing the spirit and respect in the heart of the true patriots drew the curtain down on the 2019 Bhavans International Spell Bee Championship paving way for the mega event to attain a cult status in the years to come.And, it was indeed, a fitting end of a glorious beginning.