Prafulla Dhariwal has always been a few steps ahead of his peers, but this time the gap has widened. A source of inspiration to his counterparts, this young boy is literally reaching for the stars. A student of standard 7 at Shree Shamrao Kalmadi High School, Prafulla will be living out the dream of many, when he visits NASA this year. Winner of the Destination NASA Challenge, he is among the 10 winners countrywide and the only one from Pune to qualify for the trip.
Destination NASA Challenge was a nationwide contest for school kids of standard 6 to 10. Launched by 24x7guru.com, which is an online assessment tool, it was conducted in schools across the nation, including around 49,000 participants and was spread over a period of two months. It had three rounds, the first being the Intra School Assessment Round. "The first round contained 40 multiple choice questions in Science, Math, Reasoning and General Awareness to be attempted in 25 minutes. I found this round a little tough as I gave it without much preparation," admits Prafulla. Learning from this experience, he was determined to be better prepared for the next rounds.

A participant in competitive exams since the tender age of eight, Prafulla focused all his energy towards the contest. "To participate in the competition one has to subscribe to the website which provides sample test paper. I solved all the Science sample papers and some Mathematics papers, as well," says the 13-year-old. And this was no easy feat given the fact that he was appearing for other competitive exams side by side. Explaining the circumstances, he says, "The second round of Destination NASA was held on February 10, the same day as the second level of Cyber Olympiad, so I had to give both the exams back to back. The same thing happened for the final round, which I appeared for along with the three papers of the state scholarship exam." And he did all this without missing a single day of school.

With a packed schedule, Prafulla hasn't had the chance to dwell much on the trip. But his excitement is visible as his words trip over eachother. "My mother was so excited when she read the result. She called out to me and after I understood what was going on, I just couldn't believe I had been selected. The reality of it hasn't sunk in as yet", he says. Does he have any special plans for the trip? "I'll have to first watch the movie Swades and then decide," he replies.

For a bright child like Prafulla, proper guidance is imperative. His beacons have been his parents, who are both engineers. Says mother Alka, a professor at MIT, "We realised at an early stage that Prafulla had an analytical and scientific bent of mind. He is a very careful observer. People don't believe us when we tell them that Prafulla only studies an hour a day. His strong basic concepts have attributed significantly to his success."Like most young boys his age, Prafulla too is a cricket aficionado. Broken glass panes all over the house stand witness to his fondness of the sport. His mother explains, "This is how he studies, I ask the questions and he answers while practising his batting". Father Sushil adds, "We've never pressurised Prafulla to perform. We've always told him to give an exam and then forget about it. Our object is only for him to gain knowledge and look ahead". Fond of Hindi movies and songs, he had also taken up badminton and chess in the past.

To a hat that is beginning to resemble a plumage, a recent addition has been his winning the International Assessment of Indian Schools, a competition that spanned 14 countries and was organised by the University of New South Wales. For this enterprising young man, thesky is the limit.

URL: http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Reaching-for-the-stars/277037/