Aakanksha Sarda’s younger brother Sagar is suddenly worried about his academic future. With an elder sister who has grabbed the limelight by becoming the only Mumbai girl among five to make it to the coveted International Physics Olympiad (IPhO), he is now certain he has large shoes to fill.But the mood was only joyous at the Sarda household on Monday, as the family basked in the glory that Aakanksha brought by being selected for a team of five smart Newtons-to-be from about 36,000 students across the nation.
A Std XII student of Sathaye College, the Mumbai girl has been selected to participate in the 41st IPhO to be held at Zagreb in Croatia between July 17 - 25, 2010.
The announcement was made on Monday at a training camp held at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), which has been selecting and training students for the Physics Olympiad since 1998. No points for guessing who won the first prize at the camp.
“I am very excited to represent India at the IPhO. I have got an opportunity and I will see to it that my team wins the IPhO. I just need to have clear, logical and original thinking,” said Aakanksha, smiling from ear to ear.
When asked if she was expecting to be a part of the team, she said, “I did have rough idea that I will be in the top five as I had scored well during the practice tests conducted at the training camp.”
Preparations for putting a team in place for IPhO began in November 2009, when about 36,000 students from across the nation participated in the first level examination conducted by Indian Association of Physics Teachers (IAPT).
From that, 312 students were selected for the second level test at Indian National Physics Olympiad (INPhO). Out of that, 37 students were selected for an orientation-cum-selection or training camp held at HBCSE from May 4-17, 2010. This year, over 80 countries are expected to participate in IPhO.
National Co-ordinator of Science Olympiads, Prof. Vijay Singh, said this will be the second time that a girl will represent India at IPhO. “Earlier, Neha Rambhia from Mumbai had represented the country in 2006.”
Aakanksha has always been ahead of the game. She was one of the toppers of the ICSE in 2008, and also won a silver medal at the 2009 International Linguistic Olympiad held in Poland.
Zarana, the proud mother, said, “We are planning to take her on a vacation wherever she wants to go. We know she needs a break from her studies.”
Aakanksha isn’t sure what she will pursue after her Std XII results are declared.
She said, “I do have a couple of options in my mind like mathematics, physics, computer science or electrical engineering. I may also go for linguistics, economics. I even love learning languages. I know French and am learning Chinese.”
Right now, Aakanksha is jubilant. She certainly feels like the heroine of one of Jane Austen’s books she loves to read: at long last, a happy ending.
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