Maths prodigy and painter do State proud

Blore girl and Davangere boy win exceptional achievement awards

One dreams of curing diseases through colours while the other loves to create a colourful collage with numbers.

Meet painter Shruthi S and Mathematics prodigy A M Anand–both from Karnataka –who received the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement 2009 here on Saturday.
They were among the 25 children from different states chosen for the coveted award given annually on the occasion of Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth anniversary, celebrated as Children’s Day.

Bangalore-based Shruthi has already won international accolades for her creation on canvas. Anand, the ‘Little Aryabhatt’, a class X student from Davangere, has already taken higher mathematics classes for engineering and postgraduate learners across Karnataka.

“I love to play with numbers and that is my passion. A complicated puzzle gives me more fun,” Anand told Deccan Herald. Winner of Karnataka government’s Pratibha Purashkar, Anand’s aim is to show children that mathematics, if pursued with zeal and passion, is not a difficult subject.

Displaying a generosity of heart, he also teaches poor students in summer vacations.
The 15-year-old prodigy wants to write books to convey to children how learning the subject can be an enjoyable exercise. “Most of the textbooks do not explain the problem adequately. Suppose a particular problem has four steps, the book will describe only two, which would be difficult for a student to understand. I will write new books which will explain the entire problem-solving process,” he said.

Oil on canvas

The oil on canvas titled ‘Milk Maid’ by Shruthi, beat two million entries from 148 countries to be included among the top 10 in the ‘International Environmental Poetry and Art Contest 2008’ in the USA.

She has been awarded Certificates of Excellence by ‘International Child Art Foundation, USA’ and Slovenia has awarded her a unique individual prize.

“I want to become a psychiatrist who can cure mental ailment through paintings, as colours do have an impact on the human mind,” said Shruthi who has already exhibited her paintings in the UK and Germany.

Winner of five international awards and four gold medals in the country for her outstanding work in the field of art, this class X student of Mary Immaculate School in Bangalore took to drawing at the age of three.

“Since both my parents had to go out for work, I used to spend my time with pencil and paper to draw whatever fascinated me. Seeing my talent, my parents decided to send me for proper coaching and later to different competitions and that is how it all began,” Shruthi said.