SPELLBOUND

Now, he’ll always remember the spelling of Jugendstil.
Queens resident Arvind Mahankali displayed a nimble mind in placing third place in this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee. His spellbinding run ended when he failed to correctly spell the German-based word Jugendstil.
“Oh, a silent letter,” Mahankali remarked after hearing the trademark bell of elimination and the correct spelling of the word that features a silent j.
A crowd favorite, Mahankali received a standing ovation after his elimination and saluted the crowd.
His third place finish garnered the Forest Hills resident a $7,500 prize.
“We are extremely proud of him,” said Sunila Tejpaul, the Forest Hills Montessori School’s education director, where Mahankali is a sixth grader.
His teachers – Fiona Carson and Doris Pinto – and classmates gave up their lunch hours to help Mahankali and quiz him.
“Everyone was up way past their bedtime watching him,” Tejpaul said. The competition lasted past 11 p.m. on June 2, a school night.
She said his classmates were totally elated and were following him on the computer during the semifinals and spelling along with him.
“We can’t wait for him to return so we can all celebrate,” Tejpaul said.
Mahankali recalled winning a spelling bee in second grade as the start of his love of words and spelling.
Along the way the Queens speller handled words from opodeldoc – any of various soap liniments – to capoiera – a Brazilian dance of African origin that incorporates martial arts movements.
One of the younger competitors in the field – 82 percent of the spellers were older – Mahankali has two years of eligibility left to take home the coveted trophy.
This marked Mahankali’s second trip to the national spelling bee, he placed ninth last year.
Spelling is not even Mahankali’s favorite subject; he names Albert Einstein as his idol and math as his favorite subject. He wants to be a physicist when he gets older.
The field of 275 spellers was narrowed over twenty rounds and ended when Sukanya Roy of Pennsylvania correctly spelled cymotrichous. For her spelling prowess she received over $40,000 in prizes.