My name corresponds to one of the names of Lord Shiv and also means the moon. Yes, I am Sudhansu Kumar, 17M, and I am yet to join an institution for my first degree.
My life took sharp turn when the Covid-19 pandemic hit us bad back in March 2020. I still remember how clumsy I was for not focusing on any skill development, rather I excused it saying meh, its only 8th standard. But when the world was thrown into the posession of corona virus, our school received an Atal Tinkering Lab with mentor. They taught me 2D Game Development, Webapp Development and Arduino IDE within months. By the end of the 2020-21 session, I was abled with tech and so much. During the same period, I read about a native one-horned rhinoceros go extinct in October 2020 and conversed with my friends to start an organisation, we named it THE GREEN MIND.
Ever since then, we have focused on Climate Change Education and have delivered to our expectations as a youth-run society. Through the mentorship provided by our sir, I was awarded INSPIRE Manak Award with a cash prize of ten thousands in December 2020 and built a women and child protection device, the device also won me the second position and seven thousand five hundred cash prize at CSIR-NPL’s Platinum Jubilee celebration exhibition. I then designed and built an advanced walking stick for visually impaired with multiple features which won me the All-India KVS-NVS Innovation Fair in May 2021. In June 2021, my team also won the second position at the Techathon organised by Jaypee Noida School. Also, in February 2022, we had the prestige opportunity to spend a whole day with the Niti Aayog’s CEO and the staff and discuss about innovations, startups and STEM culture of India. In September 2022, I received Special Achievement Award from the KVS Commissioner for crafting a successful research paper titled The Multi-Dimensional Theory: An Astronomical Research. Also, through my advocacy for climate change at THE GREEN MIND, I represented at the International Model United Nations in February 2022 as a Delegate of State of Libya and secured the Honourable Mention Award. At Maharaja Surajmal Institute of Technology’s techfest, I won their Mr and Ms Coder competition on February 1st, 2024 prior to starting my own tech club named Sarabhai Tech Club for Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.
These were the opportunities I was offered and were utilised by me. But more were yet to come. In July 2023, I was selected for the Sakura Science Program and visited Japan for seven days on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan. My experience in Japan ranges from visiting tourist locations such as Kiyo-mizudera Temple, Shinkakuji Golden Pavilion and Dotonbori area to experiencing education institutions such as Osaka University, Kyoto University, Riken Supercomputer centre etc. More than the places, the friendships we made with Japanese students and other internationally selected students who had joined us throughout the course of the program were significant.
Coming back from Japan, I was instantly called and auditioned for anchoring the National Education Conference 2023 on the third anniversary of NEP2020 on 29th of July, 2023 in front of Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The successful event and my performance as a comperer led me to anchor the 60th anniversary of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan on 15th December, 2023 in front of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Through both the rare opportunities, I was capable of building a firm network amongst ministry and establish a ground for myself.
At this point in time, while I am writing this article, I feel my experiences speaks volume. However, a major part of my life is still missing as I prepare to leave my high schooling days. You might wonder what that Sid Grey is doing in the title? Well, in September 2022, I published my first novel of a trilogy I had been working on for four years. And I came up with Sid Grey as my pen name. That’s how people began recognising me as Sid.
Everything I have accomplished adds value to my pride, but more than that, to my parent’s. There’s a lot I am eager to share but let’s keep it short. However, I do want to add to the article that the most important thing that accompanied me throughout my journey was sheer LUCK. I do think my skills and talent have helped but there were a lot more talented people I came across over my path. Life was hard for me too, which I never talk about. Struggles will always be overlooked and the value of result dawns over them, but they matter the most otherwise I wouldn’t be here. The journey of these fantastic four years of my high school have been phenomenal as I transition from robotics to Computer Science in coming future. May the blessings keep imparting over me as I continue my journey who knows how!
Thanks for reading so far. Check out more about me here and let’s connect on Linkedin for more 😊