Safa Fabin, a Kerala girl who earned plaudits for effortlessly translating a live Rahul Gandhi political speech, has passed class 12 board exams with A+ grades in all subjects. Safa passed the exams in flying colours; according to reports, the science student scored 98.5 per cent marks. The daughter of Kunhi Muhammad, she is studying at the Government Higher Secondary school at Karuvarakund in Malappuram.
Safa was held up as an example of Kerala's excellent public education system when she effortlessly and immaculately translated a Rahul Gandhi live speech at a school function in his Wayanad parliamentary constituency.
Rahul, on a three-day tour of his constituency, was to speak at Government Higher Secondary School at Karuvarakundu. He asked the audience, comprising mostly of school students, whether anyone could translate his speech from English to Malayalam.
Just to provide a background: Translating live political speeches live is no easy task. Ask BJP leader K. Surendran or former Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P.J. Kurien who had Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi running for cover after their speeches, while campaigning in Kerala, were lost in translation. In Tamil Nadu, too, Rahul faced the same problem, with the 'culprit'—former state Congress chief K.V. Thangkabalu—becoming a meme favourite for trolls.
Safa volunteered to do it. She knew that if she messed up, her friends would troll her. But she gathered the courage and put her hand up. She started cautiously but soon grew in confidence. What impressed everybody the most was how she used the local slang to make the speech appealing to the audience.
During the 15-minute speech, Rahul urged students to ask questions relentlessly to improve their scientific temper. “There are no foolish questions or wrong questions. You have to keep on asking questions.”
“Society can maintain scientific temper only if students ask questions,” he said.
Safa's teachers were impressed and surprised in equal measure by her choice of words while translating Rahul Gandhi's speech. After completing the speech, the Congress leader congratulated Safa and gave her chocolates. Safa aspires to be a teacher.
