Budding space explorer
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"One must be thorough with the prescribed textbooks." She attributes her success to regular and systematic study.
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Aruna Kesavan, a former student of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kozhikode, was selected as Goodwill Ambassador for `Save the Girl Child', a campaign of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, on July 11.
She stepped into the shoes of Sania Mirza, India's first junior Wimbledon champion, who was the first Goodwill Ambassador for the same campaign. Aruna was nominated as the Goodwill Ambassador after she became the All-India topper in the Class XII CBSE examination. She scored 487 marks out of a total of 500 marks.
Aruna won a cash award of Rs. 5 lakhs, and was also featured in an advertisement of the Department of Health and Family Welfare. She will endorse themes, concepts and issues related to the campaign for the girl child, which would cover topics such as gender bias, immunisation, ill-effects of early marriages and so on.
Aruna says that she was a little surprised to find that she had topped the exams. Although she had expected about 95 per cent, she secured 97.4 per cent. Aruna scored full marks in Mathematics, 96 in English and 97 each in Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
According to her, the excellent coaching in her school and systematic studies helped her achieve this feat. She had private tuition in Mathematics, but managed other subjects on her own. "Combined studies with my friends proved to be very useful," she points out.
Aruna had been a topper all through in school. She did her schooling at Little Rock Indian School in Udupi before joining Class Seven in the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kozhikode.
Although her father, S. Kesava Iyer, chief manager (IT) at Punjab National Bank, and her elder sister, Veena Kesavan, are engineers, Aruna does not want to pursue engineering.
Her passion is Physics and the exciting world of Astrophysics.
Keeping in view her ambition to becoming a scientist, she is now planning to join the integrated course M.Sc. (Honours) course at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. Perhaps, it was the evocative writing of Stephen Hawking, of whom she is an avid reader, which has inspired her to explore space. She has just laid her hands on `India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium', a book written by the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
An all-rounder, Aruna used to participate in school athletic events and her interests include music and reading.
"One must be thorough with the prescribed textbooks," she emphasises.
She admits that she is a little nervous about being the successor of Sania Mirza. However, she says she is enthusiastic about the campaign for the girl child.
J.S. Bablu
Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup
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