One day our teacher told us that everyone would be getting a list of words whose spellings we had to learn and those who could do it would participate in the Dawn Spelling Bee competition.

There were 30 words and they looked very difficult to me at first glance. When our test was taken, only 15 children managed to clear it out of 84. Then another list was shared with the successful students and this time only 10 children managed to get through and finally three were chosen for participation, including myself, Abdul Rafay and Yesaa Hasan.

We were very excited to be selected and anxiously waited for the competition day to arrive. Soon it was the summer holidays and we started to prepare at home for the contest with all our dedication. Ms Sakina also mailed us the Dawn Spelling book from which we were required to prepare for the test. We all learnt the whole book by heart and were all set for the district rounds.

When the school reopened, Ms Sakina facilitated us and arranged after school classes with her so that we could prepare thoroughly under her supervision.

Soon the day of district rounds arrived, which was held in Karachi Arts Council. The pronouncer announced the rules and the competition began. Our first word was “troupe” which we mistook for “troop”. Then Rafay helped us with the correct spelling and I told the spelling as I was the speaker for my group.

A first-time participant recalls the exciting time he had during the toughest competition he had taken part in

The district round was very exciting and with our attentiveness and strong coordination, we made it through the rounds along with another school and received the certificate of merit for passing the round.

We all prepared meticulously for the upcoming regional rounds. My partners Yesaa and Rafay were very cooperative and we answered all the words correctly with good coordination amongst us.

In the last round we got the word “palpate” and we answered it incorrectly, but to our luck, everyone else spelled their words incorrectly too. We finally made it to the final round but the sad part of the entire episode was that this time our group mate Rafay, got eliminated.

Mohammad Abbas of Vali Asr Comprehensive School was the regional champion. Yesaa Hasan was the first runner-up and I was the second runner-up. After the competition, Rafay was depressed and cried and, we all consoled him and cheered him up. We celebrated our victory with our parents and school teachers, and started to prepare for the National Rounds, which were to be held in Lahore on November 14, 2017.

From then onwards, every day I and Yesaa spent most of our time with Ms Sakina during recess and other free lessons to prepare for the National Rounds. She regularly took our test not only from the Dawn Spelling Bee book, but also from the enormous Oxford Dictionary that was part of our grade five English literature syllabus.

We were given four categories to choose spellings from, which were Dawn, arts & cinema, borrowed food words from different languages and marine science (ocean biology). My mother helped me search websites related to these four categories and learn the correct pronunciation of the words.

Soon the day came when I had to fly to Lahore for the contest along with my father. I said goodbye to my mother and sister and went inside Jinnah International Airport Karachi. It was my first domestic travelling experience.

At Lahore, the organisers were very cooperative and took very good care of us to make our experience comfortable. They took us for a bus tour of Lahore with all other participates.

We saw wonderful and historic sites of Lahore, such as Minar-i-Pakistan, Badshahi Masjid, Aitchison College, the mausoleum of Mohammad Allama Iqbal and lots of other interesting places of cultural value.

We also went to watch the Lahore Grand Dancing Fountain, which seemed very attractive due to the eye-catching lights and national songs being played. We then went to have dinner at a rooftop restaurant, along with the other participants. It was a spellbinding experience to view the scenic beauty of Lahore from the rooftop while enjoying dinner. After dinner, we returned to our hotel and I revised the spellings.

The next morning we got up early and had breakfast. Then we all went straight to Ali Auditorium where the competition was being held. The first session was of the 15-17 age group, and then it was followed by the 12-14 years category.

Finally it was our turn and we all were seated on the stage. I was a bit nervous, but excited and happy to be among the final contestants of the national rounds. We were informed about all the rules once again. The National Champion from our category was Ayesha Kakakhel from EMS High School.

Yesaa and I were somewhat sad because we didn’t win the contest. However, we were hopeful that we would return to the contest the next year with more vigour and intense preparation. We learnt a lot by appearing at this stage as we got the valuable experience of the National Championship, which was a commendable achievement on our part.

We got the prizes, books and also a cheque of Rs5000. I was excited to know that I had achieved the eighth position and Yesaa got the sixth position out of about 2400 children in the National Rounds. I am thankful to Almighty Allah for this.

I would like to take this opportunity to specially thank my parents and teachers, especially Ms Sakina and Ms Asma, my best buddies Yesaa and Rafay, and Ms Qudsiya for their incessant support and providing us with helpful preparation materials.

Dawn Spelling Bee provides us with a valuable platform and a great learning experience. I will not forget my trip and experience, and Inshaa Allah I will appear in the next Spelling Bee contest too.

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 31st, 2018