An old head on young shoulders

For nine-year-old Vinayaka, a resident of Sharavathi Block of NGV in Koramangala, his birthday celebration is much beyond cutting cake. His unique style of birthday celebration is theme-based, which will be educative as well as informative not only to children but also to adults.

Last year it was on global warming and this time it is on Rain Water Harvesting. So Vinayaka M, a student of Grade III of National Public School, did celebrate his birthday on Saturday at his residence in NGV along with his friends and their parents who were briefed upon the methods and uses of RWH.

RWH model made on his b'day
Vinayaka has created a model of the RWH using various materials and reusable things along with a mini-submersible pump. The model has a house made up of sun board, a shower which gives the rain effect, a mini-submersible pump. The water collected on the roof of the building goes through filters made up of recycled materials and gets collected in the tank. A symbolic representation of two types of water harvesting that is storage tank and raise the underground water level is shown in the model. The top portion has clouds and small lights to give the lighting effect.
Not only this, Vinayaka speaks on this topic for over five minutes non-stop citing examples and explaining all about RWH. He says what the residents can do by adopting RWH and its uses as well as benefits to the environment. Later, a quiz was conducted not only for children but also for parents, where children were asked to answer as crossword and simple questions on water conservation. It was an awareness programme for the parents also. 

A month long celebrations
To create this beautiful model for him took nearly a month. He was assisted in this by his parents --Manjunath and Nagaveena.
"Children have an innate drive to learn. Vinayaka started celebrating theme birthdays on his 5th year. First it was the Cinderella skit, then on the 6th birthday the theme was the solar system when he presented a light and sound show singing poems on each planet. Seventh birthday was on the Dinosaur era, when he explained the characteristics of giants who ruled the earth once upon a time. Eigth year birthday was on global warming where he started up with awareness programme. 
On that day, he also composed and sung a song on water conservation called "Neeranu ulisi badukanu kalisi" in "Kamaj" raag written by his mother. He dedicated this song to his guru Vidushi Rohini Gangadharaiah.

A multifaceted child
There's more credit to him. Vinayaka has multifaceted talents. Till now he has won more than a 100 prizes for his performance in various fields.
He was felicitated by Science Olympiad Foundation for getting second position in the State in International Math Olympiad. His IMO and NSO international ranks were 14 and 25 respectively. This year he has been positioned third in the State and international rank 24 in National Cyber Olympiad. 
Music is his passion and he is learning Hindustani Music from past five and half years under the guidance of his guru Vidhushi Rohini Gangadharaiah. He has passed Prambhika and Praveshika I exam in Hindustani Vocal  and Tabla with distinction from Gandharva Mahavishwavidhyala, Pune. He also has passed Prambhika keyboard exam in distinction from the same university.
As the dedicated student of Pranava Sangeetha Sabha he has given many stage performances.
Music, dance and painting…
He is also learning Tabla for past three years under the guidance of Sri Srikant Devipur from Ustad Allarakha institution of Tabla.
He loves colours and tries to experiment with them. Some of his achievements are:

INTERNATIONAL:
Winning Gold medal @ 8th international child exhibition conducted by Kshitij, Gurgaon 2010

NATIONAL:
National level gold medal and first prize from Lalitkala Academy Bangalore 2009
He is also learning skating from Esther Roller Skating Club. He started to skate at an early age of 4 and has won Gold, Silver and Bronze medals at Club and Interclub competitions.
For the past four years he has been learning dance from Universal Dance and aerobics academy. He has been part of many stage shows like "Boom Boom Bash", Rajyotsava celebrations at NGV club, Adugodi Habba and other places.
Dedication, hard-work, vision and focus has made him accommodative, sensitive and balanced, say his parents.
–AKSHAYA DEVA