Representing India on a global platform

Once upon a time, a talkative girl was studying in class seven was admonished by her teacher for talking excessively in class. As a punishment, the teacher put up the girl’s name for the debate competition.

Confident about her communication skills, the girl was awaiting her turn, when a boy from class five walked upto the stage and delivered one of the finest speeches and left everybody in the audience dumbstruck.

The girl was still confident. In her mind, she thought, “If that fifth standard boy can talk so well, so can I.” However, when it was her turn and she stood infront of the audience, the nervousness started to set in. With a big lump in her throat, the words seemed to have failed her. The embarrassment was too much for her to take.

The next day when she walked into school - her friends were aghast to see that the lass had been crying.

Soon, entering her class was the boy from class five, who had defeated her in the debate competition. He looked up at her and said, “Akka, why are you crying? If you had practised, then you would have won the competition.” Even as the words from the young boy were making an effect on the lass, he thrust a book about ‘How to speak confidently?’ into her hands and said, “Practise”.

Heeding to the advise of the boy turned out to be a blessing for that girl, nearly 10 yearslater.

 Because, she represented India at the International Student Festival in Trondhiem (ISFiT), Norway. She was among the 10 students from across the world, who had the opportunity to express her thoughts in front of the Prince of Norway, Haakon Magnus. The lass was none other than Bhuvaneshwari K, a final year student of Department of Telecommunications at the GSSS Institute of Engineering and Technology for Women.
Bhuvaneshwari was one of the 450 students selected from across the world to participate in the International Student Festival in Norway through an online essay competition.

The lass had overcome competition from nearly 4,300 applicants from 147 nations to participate in ISFiT.

With the theme of ISFiT based on ‘Global Health’, it was only but natural for Bhuvaneshwari, an engineering student, to share her thoughts about the how internet was affecting society.

Describing her experience to City Herald, Bhuvaneshwari said that it was an amazing experience for her to interact with students from other countries. However, she recollects that the hospitality of the Norweigns was extremely warm even though the temperatures hit minus seven degree celsius. She is the daughter of marine engineer B Kumaravel and Prasanna Kumari, who is a homemaker.

The jewel on the crown for Bhuvaneshwari was the ‘Outstanding Student Award’ awarded by her college, GSSS Institute of Engineering and Technology for Women. Having lost a year in engineering due to jaundice, when she about to face her exams, the lass has found a befitting reward to end her course at the engineering college.