March 22, 2006
Pranav and the BeeKids
Something smells down in Georgia and young Pranav Mahadevan is being forced to take a deep breath of the stink in. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on an exclusive investigation which takes a look at the seedy underbelly of spelling bee competitions in this once great country:
Pranav Mahadevan, a serious speller since second grade, had one final shot at the state spelling bee, where a win would finally give him his ticket to the national stage in Washington.In anticipation of the Georgia Independent Schools Association spelling bee in Macon last month, the Dunwoody eighth-grader pored over word lists and studied word roots in Greek, Latin and French. But he was eliminated when the judges said he spelled the wrong word. He spelled “ivy”; the judges were looking for “ivied.”
Pranav, a student at Our Lady of the Assumption School in north Atlanta, said he misunderstood the pronouncer. He spelled the word he thought he heard, a word he repeated for the judges before he started spelling. His mother, Kalpana Mahadevan, appealed her son’s dismissal immediately, as is her right under the bee rules. But she said the judges refused to replay the tape to see whether the pronouncer had clearly articulated the word. Instead, they ruled that Pranav was out and proceeded with the contest.
This is personal. First they screw us by misrepresenting Hindus in California textbooks and now they go after our kind in Georgia. Is it Pranav’s fault that Georgians can’t properly articulate the “-ed” at the end of their words? My personal advice would be to set up a commission to look into this. Scientists could come and quantify the acoustics of the competition room and speech therapists could assess the so-called “pronouncer.” Both could later testify as expert witnesses in front of the congressional committee which overseas these matters.
All hope is not lost however. After Hurricane Katrina, the city of Houston demonstrated its limitless generosity by taking in the vast majority of Katrina victims. On a recent trip to Houston, Pranav’s mom learned that the city was also known for taking in those abused by the Spelling Bee System and the incompetent federal and state officials who are responsible for its breakdown:
In Georgia, few students pursue spelling as diligently as Pranav, who has broadcasts of past National Spelling Bees on tape and can rattle off the winning words for the past several years.His mother networked among parents in Texas, where the Indian-American community is very active in spelling bees. They advised her to move to Texas, saying that Georgia didn’t have a reputation of taking spelling competition seriously.
Georg…ia hates brown people.
abhi on March 22, 2006 04:28 PM in Humor, Kids · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
Please explain...
PMG
I added a recent link up top.
I smell a Million Speller March.
Thanks, Abhi. I figured that's what you were referring to, but I just thought I'd ask. I know this is totally off-topic, but I hope no one minds me throwing this in the mix which has some more details about the textbook controversy: Indiatruth.org
And, on-topic: Spelers of the world unite and take over!
PMG
A Nerd Will Rise...
I thought the following from the link Abhi just added was interesting.
Whats a secular history ??How about, "Dyslexics of the world, untie!"
But can he play chess?
In Jawja (Georgia as you North Easterners/West Coasters know it), Houston county is pronounced "How-stun" county and "Albany" is pronounced "All-bane-ee". Nuff said.
dude, that loox like my younger brother. fucked up.
Spelling bee-ers and chess players usually land up playing with themselves....
"I-V-Y"?
That sure is a peculiar way to spell recreational vehicle. Are you deaf, son? I said "RV," wadn't asking you about your college ambitions, shoot.
My moment of spelling bee drama was at our school bee in fifth grade, where the pronouncer pronounced "wrestle" as "wrastle" (as a good Texan should do). I asked for the definition, which was similar to "wrestle." But my growing up in a house where English was spoken without a Texas accent left me confused, so that is how I spelled it. Wrastle. W-R-A-S-T-L-E. Wrastle. My dad appealed and I was reinstated and won, only to go out on the word "salicylate" at the regional bee :(
Ivy? Ivied? Didn't the kid realize they won't give you EASY words??? :)
georgia hates brown peeps?
hey now... i've lived in ehem....georgia around 4 yrs now...granted i'm known as the gal who hates georgia with a passion--with a one way ticket back to the west coast after my time is up here.. (not selling alcohol on sundays, WTF?), and other ehem... absurdities..(can we say how REPUBLICAN this state is....to wanting to remove the word evolution from the text books).... but GA doesn't really hate brown people per say....we're the milk choco in between the white and the dark choco here and used as an intermediary between the two ....
but i must admit this kids parents are a little psycho..similar to the scene in spellbound where that indian boys father paid a village in india to do chants for him to win for a week or something ridiculous like that.. honestly i wanted to shrink away into oblivion in the movie theater at that moment... implode is more like it... oh well...indian parents at times are um... psychotic themselves when it comes to being at the pinnacle of an academic/nerdy award...it's scary... like stage parents..but the iq version at that...
okay enuff about my ranting...better load up on the etoh before sun 12am... the usual drill... cheers.
"not selling alcohol on sundays, WTF?"
chick_pea,
a good number of counties/ parishes in deep south have no alcohol on Sunday rule. In Georgia, is it state-wide. I thought it entirely depended on the local government/ people.
to everyone,
What is with this spelling bee? It is totally nerdy and I think it is not even fun.......Does it help get laid ?
wow I didn't know Texas was a state involved in spelling bees. I myself was in the spelling bee for 3 years in middle school but I could never achieve top levels like the desi prodigies.
Kush:
Yeah, I live in the middle of the Baptist Bible Belt...I just didn't understand the absurdity when i first moved here from the more diverse/liberal west coast.....but over time, i've accepted the fact, and laugh when i go to grocery store and see the lights turned off on the wine/etoh lane on Sundays.. pretty damn amusing....and i dont' think the nerdy bee winners get laid more often.. hehe... that was humorous..and almost poetic ;)
i say this in good humour :)....
am i the only one who sees the irony in this? :)
Nope. You are the one who said it ;-).
But can we add a dyslexic march on Apr 1st in Los Angeles please. I want to lead that one.
Ha! Kush, that was the funniest thing I have ever read on SM... and why do you ask? ;)
And CP: I know!! They have that same silly law in Minnesota. It's so weird and totally hard to get used to. There used to be a 24 hour liquor store in my apartment building.
As far as the spelling bees, for those qualifying rounds (for the Scripps-Howard) they actually give you a little book with like 2,000 words. All the words they use at the regional and national level come from that book. Shame on him for not having every word memorized... Bad desi!
"and why do you ask? ;)"
Just wanted to be sure not only for me but for my future kids too.
You know why I took chewing tobacco, I listened to Jesse Ventura.
"Bunch a slackjawed faggots around here. This stuff will make you a goddamned Sexual Tyrannosaurus, just like me."
--Jessie Ventura in Predator
Good luck kids, with spelling bee.
funny you should say that...guess it does after all :) at least these people are in for a big disappointment...
Aren't bars closed in MA or at least Cambridge on Sundays too? Or at least liquor stores? I have some vague memory of this being a problem one night.
Don't worry. Georgia hated black people before they hated us. The skin color standard is just getting lighter as each decade passes. Eventually, they'll be hating each other. That's when the real fun will start. ;]
Maybe it fine-tunes their minds for when they grow up and decide to do Masters and PhDs in Applied Physics, get a job as a quant with an investment bank, and end up earning an insane amount of money at a ridiculously young age. So I guess it does have the potential to help them get some action, albeit not for a long time.
Kush is either pulling everone's leg or he sounds like the biggest all-round pimp, player, and hustler on SM. And you thought geologists were boring. They must be like accountants -- well-behaved, meek & mild image on the outside, a seething tangle of sexual perversion and excess on the inside. "Double-entry book-keeping" probably isn't just financial jargon, y'know.....
arre yaar; this story (and subsequent comments) has aroused a plethora of emotions within me. i am unable to seperate my tendencies toward laughter at certain comments or shaking an open palm while cocking my head from side to side as an enraged uncle/aunty..
Are you insane?
PropaMcGandhi is right, go figure the facts
Did anybody see Spellbound? That was a great documentary on the spelling bee subculture, following about 6 kids of different ethinicities (desis over-represented again).
Very entertaining with some very interesting characters. One that stayed in my head was this desi kid who barely scraped by "darjeeling" while his dad was having conniptions in the audience. There was a latina whose farm-hand parents do not speak english.
Just rent the damn thing if you haven't alredy. I can't recommend it enough. It also answers the question Kush Tandon asked in #23.
Jai,
And you thought geologists were boring.
They never are.
I am not sure about spelling skills.
We all need to check out the movie "spellbound" - about spelling bee contestants. The preview looked very interesting. It showed some of the things chick_pea was talking about.
KT:
The movie is awesome.. it shows the craziness of Indian parents.. seriously...one father was borderline psychotic...he should've been under surveillance.. here are my personal thoughts on the movie:
How can they be boring? Geologists play hero in the movie such as Dante's Peak starring Pierce Brosnan. On the other hand software people are damned to be shown as geeky for eternity :-)
I guess I somehow have to accept that Spelling Bees are interesting :( If I ever have kids I hope I never get my kicks out of watching them succeed at this kinda stuff.
Huh??????
The Matrix?????
Trinity!!!!???
Geeky????
Sigh... it's art imitating life, obviously.
I have to disagree with chick pea #30.
Admittedlly the indian parents in the flick were more into it than the other folk if I remember correctly. But as an ethnic group we have always had more than our share of pushy parents for whom academic success was paramount. And again, if I remember correctly, the kid didn't seem stressed out at all. His big sister shows up and vouches for him as well. Something about karate and how he is not a nerdy kid at all.
The other desi kid who shows up in a cameo (who goes on to win the whole shebang next year) came across a bit off though. He was home schooled by his folks who think that america is full of lazy slackers who are probably going to hell (my memory may be off on the last sentiment).
If you want crazy parents look out for an old documentary following young beauty queens in training (I think the one that I saw follwed them Texas, NC and FL).
admittedly jay, brown parents are more 'pushy' in academic success as compared to other ethnicities... but to pay priests in india for your childs success in a spelling bee? i'm just grateful to the higher being my parents were outta my academic life (didn't even know what i majored in, to what grades i was getting...) and just let me do my thing... i think i would've suffocated/imploded if i had all that academic pressure placed upon me..
having a latin teacher, french teacher, and all those other teachers to be coached for the spelling be alone is crazy... karate kid fine.. but there is more than karate in being a normal kid.. hell spend all day saturday and watch cartoons, eat sugary cereal, playing with the neighborhood kids, and just enjoy life as a kid for a time being.. you only get that time once...
I don't know, I saw Spellbound and I have to agree with Ms. Pea. I think there were multiple desi contestants (was it the girl who ended up winning all of it?) but the dude whose dad paid a 1000 people in India to pray for him round the clock took the cake. I remember watching the scene where one of his parents quizzed him on all the words and timed him too. As a former regular on the spelling bee circuit, I can vouch for the fact that most of the kids who really succeed in the spelling bees eat, sleep, and breathe it. They go through some serious training. They take it as seriously as any sport.
Spelling Bees! I wrote a piece last year on the desi spelling bee champs- and in my research learned in that 'mutineers will so find this fascinating' kind of way about the North Star Foundation...
Here's the link to the Foundation's site.
And I thought Spellbound was an awesome movie. Funny like Best in Show, but real.
Is this for real?? Man thats fucked up. Is this for "education" ?? Will that kid become "educated"??
I, for one, concur with the statement:
First Operation Meth Merchant stakes out and takes out innocent little Aunties & Uncles at convenience stores all across the Deep South, and now this Shpelling Bee outrage. Give me a break! Their deshi accents got 'em in a heap o' trouble, yet spelling bee judges accents are all (Georgia) peaches-and-cream.
Dammit.... in the words of that dream-boat of a crooner John Mayer...
Why Georgia? Why???
pravasi:
i asked myself the same question...why ga why...but then listned to 'welcome to atlanta where da playas play' to get me in the mood to move down here.. hehe...
and yes, RC his parents are completely MESSED up... craziness..that ain't normal behavior...
I blame the kid. If he was confused, why didn't he ask the pronouncer to put the word in a sentence?
"I could tell that I was among Northeastern intellectuals because their sarcasm was dripping with ivy."
versus
"I've noticed our college's ivied buildings ever since they hired away Princeton's head landscaper."
IndiaTruth!!! For the morons by the morons and a complete oxymoron.
If you have something intelligent and intelligible to say, then say it. Until then, shut your jalebihole.
PMG
I once spelt the word 'harrowing' as 'heroin' in a provincial spelling bee final. I was 11 and not a user.
Hey now! Lets not rag on Georgia. Texas is now arresting people for drinking in bars. Maybe next they'll arrest people for eating in restaurants.
And you thought geologists were boring.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!
Check in with me after one field trip with a few.
Georgia didnt have a reputation of taking spelling competition seriously
Is there anything Georgia takes seriously besides naming everything after peaches and CNN?
Ah caint b'leev hwhat y'all dun bin sayin' 'bout Jawjer. Y'all from "Nooo Yoik", where they carry dem "Poises" so y'll kin git muhged? Ah hope ah don't "hoit" y'all feelings now, ya heah?
"IndiaTruth" is like "South Asia Scholar" or Oxymoron. Did you know that most of the "IndiaTruth" types are former AID (Allahs for India's Destruction) "jeevan-saathis" or FOSA communists? Don't move to Georgia, folks. Around here, sodomy is a felony, which makes all FOSA Felons On Sodomy Arrest. They put sodomists and communists in chain gangs, where more of the same will probably be done to you.
For the Spelling Bee, I have the following advice.
"I have a Spilling Chequer
It works on my Pee Sea.
It planely marx for my revue
Miss steaks eye cannot see."
Hey Arun, Didn't Witzel say something about NRIs not taking care of their kids or them not being interested in their kids education (I mean (in)famous IER post #2300)
Maybe our PedaMcGandu here will take this Witzel so that *real* India truth shines up the place uncharted by regular sun rays.
What I want to see is the FOSA brats (does sodomy generate brats or rats?) in California try to spell "Hinduism" or "Mahabharatha" a few years from now, with the new FOSA-approved Witzel-edited textbooks. BUT... Hey! They'll be EXPERTS at cleaning latrines with their bare hands, as Witzel and Farmer and Akhila Rahman will teach them through videos and illustrations in their textbooks. This is a good thing, because it will give them a useful skill. Which may be the only one they will have in the Global Workplace, other than the skill of waving banners saying: "ALLAH WILL DESTORY TERRIST BUSH AND INDIA!!! OSAMA IS OUR HERROW! ANGANA IS A BURRO!!"
Hi McGandu and Nimesh,
Below is the kind of logic from indiatruth.org. Of course you FOSA types can twist anything to justify your reasoning. Can you say Christian Churches and Islamic Charities? Most of the $ 681 million is from them and not from Indian American Hindus. If VHP or the Parivar groups are even getting $ 10 Million, they would be happy. If you are so proud of your site, why don't you list the names of the people involved instead of claiming 'a group of blah, blah, blah'. I can can claim I represent people from Mars but before claiming that I need to justify it.
"What do any of the actions by the Hindu Education Foundation and the Vedic Foundation in California have to do with Hindu nationalist groups in India like the RSS and VHP? As in any political system in the world, money equals power. According to the Reserve Bank of India (Indias Central Bank), in 2004, overseas Indians sent back a total of $23 Billion to India. For perspective, this is more than the value of Indias Foreign Exports in the same time period, in terms of what it means to the country. Of this, $681 million went to charitable and religious donations. It is very difficult to break out a specific number for the American portion of this number, but one can imagine that a fairly sizeable amount of that comes from Indian Americans in the US. The Reserve Bank of India does not break down the numbers in any more detail."
maitri:
besides naming everything after peaches and CNN, the georgians also serious in the following matters:
-support for the NRA
-G. Bush Shrines
-KKK folloings (heck the headquarters is less than 10 miles from me..)
-sweet tea
-going to church (i have never seen so many TV stations dedicated to the lord... or so many churches in less than a 1 block radius..)
hmm... that is all i can muster up at this moment..i'm sure there are a ton more...
hindutvavadi in California (#52):
Do you have any facts to support this?
Madurai Vivekan said
>>Can you say Christian Churches and Islamic Charities? Most of the $ 681 million is from them and not from Indian American Hindus.
>Do you have any facts to support this?
More facts than indiatruth.org has to support all their thesis and various other insunations. ( indiatruth.org - Goebbels would have been so proud of the name. shades of 1984 - Orwell was so right about this commies/fascists). Did you bother to check that site? Here are the links they use to justify their assertion:
http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_ViewBulletin.aspx
The RBI site which has a bunch of PDF's, none of which state anything about the charitable contributions
http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_ViewBulletin.aspx?Id=6033
Lists all the various deposits for NRI - FCNR, NRE etc. I guess I don't have the ability like Indiatruth.org to make the connection from this link to the money flowing to the various Parivar orgs. My bad.
http://www.swaminomics.org/et_articles/et20050525_unexp_bonan_NRI.htm
The only link which mentions that flow of money for 'Religious and charitable donations religious, charitable'. This includes all the contributions to all organizations - either religious or charitable. Mind you, this probably includes all the NGOs that are involved in various social and health related stuff like AIDS prevention etc. Again, my bad in not making the connection to the Hindu fundamentalist orgs.
Here are some links I Googled. There is only one hindu org (Satya Sai trust - a well known Parivar org (;- ). There is no VHP related orgs listed below and you see a whole bunch of Christian orgs. We all know what most of them do. Also it can be safely assumed, that most of the money from Germany goes for Christian causes. You could have done this too, but you dont' have any incentive, as unlike us you follow the superior ideology and higher god:
http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/jul/06spec2.htm
http://www.rediff.com/money/2003/aug/16donations.htm
# The United States heads the list of donor countries to India with Rs 1,492.62 crore (Rs 14.926 billion), followed by the United Kingdom -- Rs 677.59 crore (Rs 6.775 billion), and Germany -- Rs 664.51 crore (Rs 6.645 billion).
# The leading donor agency was World Vision International, USA -- Rs 80.43 crore, followed by Foster Parents Plan International, USA -- Rs 76.37 crore (Rs 763.7 million), and Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, USA -- Rs. 68.11 crore (Rs 681.1 million). The US-based World Vision is an international Christian relief and development organisation that operates in 96 countries.
# The largest recipient of foreign contribution was Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust -- Rs 88.18 crore (Rs 881.8 million), followed Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society India, Maharashtra -- Rs 74.88 crore (Rs 748.8 million), Gospel for Asia, Kerala -- Rs 58.10 crore (Rs 581 million), and Mata Amritanandamayi Mission, Kerala (Rs 23.19 crore (Rs 231.9 million).
The links above talk about foreign donations, gives the numer (which is actually greater than the number in indiatruth(lie).org) and states the following:
"How many associations are registered under FCRA?
Nearly 30,000. But not all of them receive foreign donations.
Which is the biggest foreign donor?
World Vision International, a United States-based Christian relief and development organisation, is the biggest donor agency for many Indian voluntary groups.
I hate to jump in here but I have to say that my first read of the indiatruth site was that it was basically a hack job with nothing to offer (nothing more than "see, all of these guys are from the BJP/VHP"). There was not a hint of the data, very easily provided by hindutvavadi in California in #55.
I'm coming down on the side of hindutvavadi here. indiatruthdotorg is all crap.
hindutvavaadi in California: nice work on the links. PropaMcGandhi please rebut if you read this and can offer more insight.
(hopefully in a non-flame way!)
In the interests of balance to indiatruth.org, check out some of the articles at www.india-forum.com. Both sites have their glaring biases, obviously, but it's always good to look at both sides of the issue. Also look at hinduamericanfoundation.org.
Hi there,
I am not in any way associated with the people who created indiatruth.org and for that matter I also do not know who they are.
As a person who was born a Hindu and who has now, as an adult, made a conscious decision to be a practicing Hindu, I find it absolutely revolting that a small group of Hindutva-wallas have usurped my religion in which I find so much love and beauty and they have made it a weapon to use against whomever they see fit.
I think the posts from Arun Fosa, Paresh, and HiC adequately illustrate that what happened in California wasnt at all about accurately representing the past, but is very much a fight about the future. What the indiatruth.org website clearly demonstrates (and which the three Hindutva supporters on this website have not refuted) is that it is a very small group of extremists who have been pushing very hard to put forth their own very particular opinion of what Hinduism should be about (Brahmanical, anti-Islam, etc.).
In the discussion on dress codes, many of us agreed that the young girl, Shabina, was being used as a pawn in the game of her elders. In this case, I feel like my religion and I are being used as a pawn in the game of these Hindutva-wallas. They are doing these things in my name, and I strongly object.
>>The Hindutvadis are doing these things in my name, and I strongly object.
See you in court.
M. Nam
Hi Mcgandhi,
>As a person who was born a Hindu and who has now, as an adult, made a conscious decision to be a practicing Hindu, I find it absolutely >revolting that a small group of Hindutva-wallas have usurped my religion in which I find so much love and beauty and they have made it a >weapon to use against whomever they see fit.
Did all the people who supported the changes in California were "made it a weapon to use against whomever they see fit." Can you give any examples? You are like the FOSA, FOIL types - insinuate whithout proof and scurry away when asked for details. Or obfuscate and change directions instead of giving a clear rebuttal.
> I think the posts from Arun Fosa, Paresh, and HiC adequately illustrate that what happened in California wasnt at all about accurately >representing the past, but is very much a fight about the future.
I guess we are all extremists and have to be fought because we don't subscribe blindly to the agenda of FOIL/FOSA/Witzel etc. Do you ever consider that we may have better arguments than you. Only thing is unfortunately we have pursued professions outside academia for whatever reason - economic and social circumstances, lack of opportunities etc.
> What the indiatruth.org website clearly demonstrates (and which the three Hindutva supporters on this website have not refuted) is that it is > a very small group of extremists who have been pushing very hard to put forth their own very particular opinion of what Hinduism should be about (Brahmanical, anti-Islam, etc.).
It must be true that these guys are extremists since indiatruth.org says so. I guess all these guys are involved in McJihad and peruading people to blow themselves up or going and claiming they are from the one true religion and if you don't follow it you are going to hell.
Of course Witzel, Farmer, Wolpert, Lal, et al are great authorities on Hinduism and anybody who disagrees with them are extremists.
If you or your side know the correct definition of Hinduism is that can be included in the textbooks please write it up so we can evaluate it.
And before going about regurgiating that these guys are pushing a version of Hinduism that is Brahmanical, anti-Islam, please provide some facts. Vyasa, Valmiki, Kambar (who wrote the Tamil version of Ramayana) were not Brahmins and there are other saints who were not. Also provide proof that the California changes were anti-islam.
It is time to shut up or put up.
PropaMcGandhi,
Your statement "...what happened in California wasnt at all about accurately representing the past, but is very much a fight about the future" is a very nice way of saying it.
But why blame only the Hindutva side for making it a fight about the future? All groups of people are equally culpable. Indeed I believe that this is the real purpose of teaching history---to make it a fight about the future.
Consider the Dalits. They want to emphasize casteism. Such a presentation of Hinduism gives them a high moral ground. Suppose that they can get such a presentation of Hinduism to be the dominant presentation of Hinduism. They can make a better case for affirmative action. So, for the Dalits, what is in the history books is a fight about the future.
Next, consider for the upper caste Hindus. They do not want to go through life feeling guilty for being upper caste. They want a nuanced coverage of casteism. Suppose that they can get such a nuanced coverage to be the domination presentation of Hinduism. They can make a better case for sunset clauses on affirmative action. For upper caste Hindus, too, what is in the history books is a fight about the future.
I do not understand the Marxists and Communists very well. Many of them are Hindus, even upper caste and wealthy Hindus. Perhaps other mutineers can throw light.