Indian American kids created a new history in the finals of the 92^nd National Spelling Bee this year. The eighth co-champions of the National Spelling Bee 2019 included seven Indian American kids, including three from Texas, two from New Jersey, one from Maryland, and one from San Jose, California. Out of the 16 finalists this year, 11 were of Indian-origin. Many people scratch their heads pondering over what makes a handful of Indian American kids beat a few million spellers from across North America.

‘Breaking the Bee’, an acclaimed documentary on what makes Indian American kids shine in National Spelling Bee competitions had a special screening at the 2018 New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) and other leading film festivals in the United States.

All about ‘Breaking the Bee’ Documentary

The first-generation Indians in America have come out with flying colors in the National Spelling Bee competitions for two decades. Among the 21 champions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee contests held from 1999 to 2016, 17 winners are young Indian Americans. The consistent success of Indian-origin contestants has raised many eyebrows and questions especially because the Indian American community forms only one percent of the United States’ total population, according to the 2014 US census.

Breaking The Bee, a 2017 documentary film on Indian American kids who are as potential as child prodigies, packs in the answer to all the questioning minds, frowned foreheads and raised fingers.  Two journalists from Business Insider Films, Sam Rega and Chris Weller made the documentary to decode the mystery of Indian American students’ success in the National Spelling Bee contests.

Breaking the Bee dispels all doubts and questions like what motivates the contestants from the Indian American community to take over the top 10, year after year; what drives them to ascend in the competition, etc. There are innumerable speculations and explanations over the winning performance of young Indian Americans in the spelling bee. More than 40% of total 45 finalists in the National Spelling Bee 2016 were from the Indian community in USA.

The makers of the feature-length documentary Breaking The Bee explored the family life, cultural background, ambitions, study habits, training, zeal and talent of the Indian American National Spelling Bee winners to discover what led them to meet with success. The documentary also features some of the Indian-origin kids who participated in the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

6-year-old Akash Vukoti from San Angelo in Texas is the one of the spelling bee geniuses who ‘Breaking The Bee’ features. He was the youngest contestant in the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The filmmaker duo – Sam Rega and Chris Weller – also caught up with USA-based sociologists, teachers, journalists, anthropologists and other professionals who are close to Indian Americans and have observed their cultural lives. These experts helped the makers of Breaking the Bee documentary frame a picture of what plays the instrumental in the success of Indian American kids in the National Spelling Bee competition.

Some of the findings by the filmmakers of Breaking The Bee are that Indian American spelling bee finalists have a definitive edge over others because of their bilingual proficiency; they spend long hours studying the connotations and structures of English words under the strict tutelage of their coaches and parents; they undergo formidable training sessions and tests.

Indian American kids have not only shone in the National Spelling Bee contests but also stood out in the National Geographic Bee competitions in USA. The National Geographic Bee is a most popular competition in which millions of school children participate from across America and their knowledge of geography is tested. The winning edge of young Indian Americans in both of these knowledge competitions has been reported over 80% in the past 10 years.  

This story is brought to you by Indian Eagle Travel at its overseas Indian community portal, Travel Beats, as part of the continued effort to promote achievements of Indians in USA. Indian Eagle not only strives to make last minute air tickets from US to India cheaper, but also caters inspiring community stories, visa & immigration news, and international travel alerts through free newsletters.

The post Breaking the Bee: Documentary Explores What Makes Indian American Kids Win Spelling Bee Contests appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.

Get ready to watch a documentary on the unifying power of food by none other than Michelin-starred chef Vikas Khanna, who made his culinary journey from his grandmother’s kitchen in Amritsar to New York through Indian taste buds. Expected to be the first of its kind among the existing popular food documentaries, Vikas Khanna’s upcoming documentary explores the unifying power of shared food experiences over socioeconomic barriers and communal divides.

Titled ‘Sexist Man Alive’ among the famous Indian American chefs by People Magazine in 2011, Vikas Khanna is currently busy shooting the documentary and looking to have it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2016. His documentary on the unifying power of food captures what revered personalities like Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra and Mata Amritanandmayi think of food’s role in communal harmony across the world through interviews.        

The 43-year-old Chef Vikas Khanna, who is now donning the hat of a documentary filmmaker, is a celebrated author too. He has a number of culinary books to his fame, including ‘Modern India Cooking,’ ‘Mango Mia,’ ‘The Cuisine of Gandhi,’ ‘The Spice Story of India,’ ‘Ayurveda – the Science of Food and Life,’ and ‘New York Chef Cooking for Life.’ ‘Utsav,’ the latest of all cookbooks authored by Vikas Khanna, weighs 15 kg and costs a whopping INR 8 lakhs. He dedicated it to the transgender community of India.

How the idea of making a documentary on the unifying power of food came to him is a matter of curiosity. He hit upon the idea during a research trip to Harappa in Pakistan a few years ago. While researching on how food was cooked in the Harappa Civilization, Chef Vikas Khanna discovered that daily cooking was a communal activity in those times and he did not find a single reference to the use of small cooking pots, which bears out to this finding. The fact that everyone used to get together for cooking and eating asserts his belief, “Unifying power of food was stronger even before religion came into being.”

Hindustan Times quoted him saying, “When I came to the US, I didn’t know anyone. On December 24, I landed up at a homeless shelter. They were preparing a Christmas meal there, and they shared their food with me; that made me feel like home. Food not only builds relations, but it also builds hope.”

Chef Vikas Khanna, who owns and runs Junoon, one of the best Indian restaurants in New York City, believes, “Neither any faith nor any religion talks about barriers.” Whether it is Judaism or Jainism, it talks about communal integrity and harmony from individual household kitchens to places of worship. That’s what the Michelin-starred chef wants to share with the world through his upcoming documentary on the power of food.

Vikas Khanna is also working on his new book “New York Chef – Visions” which will hit bookstores soon. – IndianEagle

The post Indian American Chef Vikas Khanna’s Documentary on Unifying Power of Food is a Blow to Social Barriers appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.