Finally, good news from Bihar

On Sunday night, Shubham was declared ‘‘India’s Child Genius’’ at the 10-month-long talent hunt contest hosted by quizmaster Siddhartha Basu on Star World. He won a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh.

Monday was a holiday for Id but Shubham had little time to rest. ‘‘Teachers, friends and relatives kept calling. They are all happy about me,’’ he says.

Shubham said he first saw the promos of the competition and then downloaded the application. He topped the first written test in which 16,000 students in the age group of 10-13 were screened. The eligibility criteria was a consistent average of 80 per cent in two academic years. Shubham has never scored below 98 per cent. In the last exam, he had scored 99.9 per cent.

In the screening test, he got five points more than his closest contender. ‘‘That is when I knew I was going to be in the contest. I had no idea what I was doing as I never had an opportunity to compete with students from metros,’’ he says.

‘‘I always told him that the competitor is unknown and any amount of effort is not surplus,’’ says Shubham’s father, Kumar Naveen.

While preparing for the contest, Shubham was acutely aware of the limitations of living in a small town. ‘‘Whereas in metros, information about all such competitions is available on the school notice board, we have nothing here. Even for books, we have to request it from outside,’’ he says.

‘‘I requested books and CDs from cities through people who travelled. And depended on the Internet a lot,’’ adds his father.

As soon as the game began to roll, Shubham realised he was not at ease with the classics — he finished reading 70 books between April and August, mostly classics.

‘‘He reads fast. And he can read even when there is a crowd in the house. Even on festivals and marriages, he puts in a few hours,’’ says Shubham’s father. The boy’s other interests are cricket and poetry.

His teacher at Muzaffarpur’s DAV School, Savitri Chiller says, ‘‘He (Shubham) is an unassuming and extremely well-mannered boy.’’

Shubham had earlier won a scholarship at the All India Children’s Excellence Search Examination, which fetches him Rs 975 a month. He came 27th at the National Science and Math Olympiad.

The entire Chakkar Chowk neighbourhood had gathered at his house on Sunday night to watch the final episode. They were mostly his relatives, who like his family, have migrated from East Champaran district.

As Shubham won the title, they celebrated an extended Diwali with crackers and sweets. ‘‘This was a perfect Diwali we could have wished for,’’ says Shubham’s mother, Archana Kumari. She is a computer engineer, while husband Naveen is a civil engineer. Together, they run a small business.

Shubham can use his prize money only when he turns 18. ‘‘I will use it for higher studies,’’ he says. The child genius plans to join the IIT for a computer or mechanical engineering course. And though he plans to move out of Muzaffarpur once he completes his schooling, Shubham is proud of his roots. ‘‘This is a great place and I am proud to be a Bihari. As I grow up, I will do my bit for my home state,’’ he says.