For most adults, it’s always fascinating to see how quickly,
the young ones are growing up. With the advent of technology and the internet,
there have been massive strides in the field of education and changes in the
way information is imparted as well. At
times, the little ones appear to be far more knowledgeable, if a comparison has
to be drawn between them and how the adults were when they were kids.
This perspective is often the subject of discussions in the
balcaos of Goan homes when the young and the old get together. A favourite pastime at these family lunches,
is the senior citizens telling anyone who is listening, what it was like to
grow up during their time.
While this debate may continue for generations – the news of
a seven-year-old Goan’s astounding achievement – warmed the cockles of her
grandparent’s hearts.
An elated Gustavo Clovis Da Cota, the Assolna-based advocate
and former ZP member, took to Facebook to share the ‘good’ news: “My
granddaughter Arianna has recently received a mention in the India Book of
Records for composing a book titled, “The Boy and Girl who learnt to Love
Maths”, which has sparked the interest of kids in maths and shows them how
maths is important at every stage in life. This book has received exemplary
reviews from all age groups and has also sold more than 500 copies across all
platforms. The book, which is also available on Amazon, has received a lot of positive
reviews there too. Proud of you Arianna and keep writing. Ps: She is currently
writing a book of short stories.”
Coming from a family of lawyers, including Gustavo’s son,
Antonio Clovis Da Costa, who is the President of the South Goa Advocate Association;
Arianna Clovis Mascarenhas is the daughter of Adv Chiara Clovis Da Costa and Adv Rahul
Mascarenhas. Her parents were both raised in Goa and moved to Chennai for work.
While Chiara represents the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, Rahul heads Legal
for India Cements Ltd and Arianna is a Grade 2 student at Sishya School in
Chennai.
“We love coming to Goa every chance we get, more so for Arianna
and our other daughter Saige,” quips Chiara.
Speaking about the mention in the India Book of Records, her
parents said it was unexpected and a pleasant surprise.
“We are proud of her achievement and are blessed to have good
wishes from all over the country,” says Rahul, when asked about the accolades Arianna received
thereafter.
Incidentally, Arianna started writing this story with help from
her father initially, for an event at her Cuemath class.
“Once she started writing, we realised it had been expressed very
well and was also too lengthy for her to orate at a Cuemath event. We printed a
few books and prepared a separate speech for the event and kind of summarised
the story in the speech. Her speech received a lot of attention and many people
wanted to purchase the book, which was not yet published at that time, “says Chiara, while describing how this speech inspired them to
think about getting the book published.
If one takes a look at the video of this intelligent and
adorable speech, it is clear how much Arianna enjoys this subject. What’s also remarkable is
that Arianna shows no signs of nervousness, while speaking to an audience full
of adults. It also gives a glimpse as to why there have been so many takers for
her book.
“Her Cuemath teacher Asha Muralidharan somehow convinced us to
publish the book and before it was even published, she got many preorders for
the book. The story was written when Arianna was six years old. She also used
the speech to text function on the iPad instead of typing the entire text,” Rahul elaborated further.
For those unfamiliar with Cuemath, it’s an international beyond-school math program, with a
vision to create thinkers and problem solvers of tomorrow. It focuses on
logical reasoning and aims to help children overcome the fear of math and
discover its fascinating side. They have over 5,000 centres across India and
they teach children to learn the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’ of math concepts.
“Cuemath’s approach is to
build the child’s fundamentals in math, and to make the child fall in love with
math. Scoring good marks in school will happen as a consequence, but is not the
program’s primary objective. For example, when a child learns decimals in
Cuemath, the child will first learn how to visually model decimals, and only
then proceed to drills on decimals. This is very different from how the child
will learn decimals in school,” Chiara explains.
What’s interesting here is
that as much as this may sound heavy, it’s literally child play for the kids.
It doesn’t take away from the regular childhood habits and Arianna certainly
loves to play with her toys and enjoys swimming as much as she enjoys reading.
“Arianna has always been crazy in love with stories in all their
forms. She’s read almost all the books of her favourite authors – Enid Blyton
and Roald Dahl books, “says Rahul.
In all this, it is easy to forget that she is still quite young.
First-time authors are usually much older and even for them; the world of
publishing can be intimidating. Surely, it must have been a whirlwind of an
experience for Arianna. Her parents shed light about her debut foray into this
line of work.
“Initially, when we told
Arianna that we were going ahead and publishing her book because of all the
requests we received, she thought we would just be printing copies of this
book. It took a while for her to realise the value of actually publishing a book.
She wasn’t involved much in the dealings with the publisher but we did explain
the process to her. Once she grasped what was happening, she had questions
like, where all would the book be available; would all her friends be able to
buy the book and so on. One of the sweetest things, she actually said was if
she could share the money she received from the book with her baby sister
Saige,” adds a beaming Chiara on a concluding note.
While this may be the end of
the first chapter, of what is already turning out to be an enriching journey,
Arianna is not one to rest on her past laurels.
She recently excelled at the International English Olympiad at her
school level securing an international rank of 41. (Conducted by Science
Olympiad Foundation in collaboration with British Council, Goan schools also
participate in the Olympiad).
Back at home, Christmas has
come early for Avo Gustavo and Avozinha Rajini, a retired headmistress; with
calls coming in from all quarters, congratulating them about their granddaughter’s
success, which locals believe is a triumphant moment for Goa.
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Caption for PIC 1: Arianna with her certificate
Caption FOR PIC 2: Arianna with her sister, parents and
grandparents
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BOX:What’s the book about?
What a joy and relief it is when kids start loving what they
do specially subjects like Maths and Arianna is attempting to make kids love
Maths through her story. The story takes the readers through a series of events
that Sam and Polly, the main characters go through to realise the value of
Maths in day-to-day life and how they realised it is better to start loving the
subject instead of fighting it and letting it affect their lives. It is
definitely a parents dream come true!
