THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: “Maths is my favourite subject. I also like the poems I learn in English classes. what else am I good at?...I love singing, but I don’t seem to get the tunes right and I try drawing, but I have never won any prizes.” Michelle Teddy Fernandez is all of eight years old michand doesn’t quite realise that she is a little wonder just the way she is. The sprightly little girl had easily walked way with the crown at the Abacus and Braingym competition held recently in Bangalore beating competitors who were as old as 15 years. She solved complicated three digit arithmetic involving fractions and decimals at the snap of a finger to win the title though she was the youngest participant at Level 7.‘‘Even as a a toddler, Michelle had showed an eagerness to learn new things and her retention levels were quite high,” remembers her mother, Mary Fernandez, sitting at their apartment in Vellayambalam. ‘‘When she was five years old, I enrolled her for the Abcus classes conducted by the Malaysia based SIP group at their centre at Pattom. Its owner Lissy Antony Eapen, retired professor from All Saints’ College, discouraged me saying that she was too young. She obliged to try letting her attend the classes on my request and Mini Suresh was assigned to teach her. In a month, she was topping the class,” says Mary.When Michelle began taking part in competitions, held at various Abacus centres,Mary often had to carry pillows and cushions along as the writing tables would be too high for little Michelle’s reach.She had emerged the champion at the annual State level meet held in Thiruvananthapuram in Septemebr 2011 qualifying for the national level championship held in Bangalore. At Level 7, the contestants are evaluated on the basis of the maximum number of sums he/she is able to do in five minute and three minute segments. “We went around Bangalore city. it is so crowded,” quips Michelle. “Mummy takes me to the Abacus classes, but Daddy also came with us to Bangalore. A dentist is what I want to become when I grow up because a dentist earns a lot of money,” she chirps on merrily until she has to stop to ask her mother, “Where did Daddy retire from? What is Chachan studying now?” And she informs us with a telling clarity for an eight year old, “Daddy retired from Jetair and my elder brother Michael is doing his final year of College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram.”
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