Spelling Championship

Shanti stared at the notice board for a long time. She could read the first word - Spelling. The second word was very long, even for any third-class kid. Shanti was not the average kid. She was born with an eye disease that needs operations and thick glasses. She started seeing clearly only at age 6. She has caught up with mathematics and spoken English was never a problem. But she still finds spelling difficult. She struggled with the word: ch -am-pi-on - ship...kampyonship? she said aloud to herself. just then a tall girl standing behind her said; "It's 'championship'. It is a spelling competition., at junior, and senior levels. Very tough. I tried once. I am not even going to try this year. It's a waste of time."

Shanti could not understand how learning spelling for a competition could be a waste of time. But she was excited. She could not try to run or jump with her specially made glasses. She could try to spell. So she decided to give her name. Her teacher seemed surprised. But Shanti did not notice anything. She asked her elder sister for her dictionary and got to work. She learnt all kinds of difficult words, hippopotamus, ceremonious, particulars, and many such. Everytime she would ask her mother to do a mock test, Shanti got only 2 or 3 short words right. But she did not give up. She thought only about spelling all the waking hours. 

On the day of the competition, she was super excited. Her mother took the teacher's permission to quietly take some pictures from the back of the hall. Shanti's turn came. The competition judge was her English teacher. She smiled at Shanti and gave her the word: surplus. Shanti got it wrong. She said s-i-r-p-l-u-s. Her mom's heart sank. She couldn't stop her tears. She saw Shanti's smile disappear. She slowly walked off the stage and looked for her class in the large auditorium. Her mom ran to her and hugged her. Shanti was surprised to see her mom, but when she saw her crying she asked her why. When her mom said that she was sad to see that she got the first word wrong, Shanti said, "Amma, what is the correct spelling of surplus?"