He designed a board game on coronavirus essentially to kill boredom during the lockdown, but 10-year-old city lad Veer Kashyap has surprised everyone by winning this year's prestigious Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar for his efforts.
The game, Corona Yuga, which Veer designed to educate people and create awareness, has been chosen under the innovation category.
Veer, a class 5 student in Navy Children School (NCS) in Kochi, was anchored in his grandfather’s house in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, while his father Vinayak K, an Indian Navy commander, and mother Sangeetha H C were in Kochi.
Using materials available at home, Veer designed the board game ‘Corona Yuga’ in the shape of the coronavirus during phase one of the lockdown in April 2020. He tested the game with family members before uploading it on YouTube.
“Our family lives in RR Nagar (but) we have been in various parts of the country due to the nature of my husband's work,” said an elated Sangeetha, speaking of her son’s achievement. “Veer had studied up to class 4 in New Delhi and we relocated to Kochi in August 2020,” Sangeetha added.
The Corona Yuga game
The game, as such, is simple: Players must understand the safety guidelines to survive the pandemic. Little surprise that it has been dedicated to Covid warriors.
"Veer also contributed about Rs 1,000 that he got by selling the board game to the PM Cares funds,” said the mother. “Several designers working on board games' design have applauded his efforts and skills.”
Buoyed by the appreciation, Veer hosted the 'Board Game Design Competition-2020' and felicitated the winners with his conceptualised Corona Yuga.
“Now, many producing board games have assured support to take his idea forward," Sangeetha said.