Hemang Vellore is 14 years-old and feels flattered when anyone calls him a geek and he specifies he’s an ‘environment geek’. At least three days in a week he’s on Google Hangouts, and admits he loves solving math problems. “Only when I get time and feel like doing so,” he clarifies categorically.
Hemang is unschooled; he gave up attending school owing to bullying by classmates who couldn’t understand his interests. “I wasn’t happy learning the same things from the textbooks. I questioned a lot and ended up being bullied,” he says. Now his mother homeschools him. Hemang says, “That makes two of us. Me and my mother learn together and it is absolute fun.” Hemang’s sources of knowledge also include various online platforms, interviews with experts, and talks by speakers on various fields. He has since opted for Anant’s Fellowship for Climate Action.
The goals ahead
Ahmedabad-based Anant National University launched a first-of-its-kind fellowship called Anant Fellowship for Climate Action, which shifts the focus from the unprecedented level of climate anxiety we see around us today to offering people ways to be part of the solution to mitigate climate change. The long-term mission of the Fellowship is to create a community — offline and online — of climate change trailblazers who work together and cross-pollinate each other’s work with ideas and expertise across sectors, regions, and generations.
His learnings from several online platforms have made Hemang a part of programmes like impacting Global Goals, Climate Emergency, Fridays For Future, Youth 4 Climate Strike Activist . He has also been a TEDx speaker. He is pursuing a Diploma in Digital Fabrication from Fab Academy, Center of Bits and Atoms, MIT Boston at FABLAB 0.
Hemang’s interest isn’t just limited to climate and environment. He is also a big fan of Robotics and that made him the National Champion in Robo Golf 2016, conducted by MIT, Lawrence Tech University, Michigan and NovaRobo in IIT Hyderabad in 2016. He has won several awards in Robotic events at NIT Warangal, JNTU Jagtial, Geek Angels Summit, Start Up Carnival, and tech fests at IIIT Hyderabad, Osmania University and various IITs across the country, , to name a few. He is trained in Arduino and Raspberry Pie IOT concepts. Hemang and his team conduct Robokshetra, series of workshops on Robotics and related activities, for those who are interested
Getting into the programme that will be led by Miniya Chatterji — an award winning sustainability expert and academic — Hemang is a happy boy. To him, climate change and its impact on earth has been a very special subject. “We see the world changing around us everyday as an impact of climate change. I want to know how to minimise it and make use of the resources available for our best use,” he adds.
Is he worried about the excessive screen time his activities take? “Not really. That’s my window of knowledge. When I am bored of accumulating knowledge I play Call of Duty,” he laughs.
