Meet the 'cartwheeling' Kolkata school kids who impressed Nadia Comaneci

Twelve-year-old Jashika Khan and her neighbour and classmate, 13-year-old Mohammad Eizazuddin are the latest social media stars. A video in which the duo can be seen performing a combination of cartwheel and somersault wearing their school uniform went viral after none other than legendary gymnast Nadia Comaneci shared it on Twitter with the caption “This is awesome”.

The search for the wonder-kids have now come to an end. Khan and Eizazuddin are both Class 8 students of Sanghamitra Vidyalaya in Khidirpur and reside at Hide Road locality near Kolkata port area in West Bengal.

Khan, who is called Lovely at her home, and Eizazuddin are both relatives and neighbours. In an attempt to impress their dance teacher Shekhar Rao, the aspiring dancers, dressed in their school uniform, performed a combination of cartwheels and somersaults while returning home from school.

Rao, who have been training the kids for a while now, shot the video clip of Eizazuddin doing the gymnastic move, followed by Khan almost doing the Produnova, with schoolbags weighing heavy on them. “Such somersaults are part of dance training these days. And, Jashika is fond of doing it. I had asked them not to perform it on hard surfaces. But she did it anyway. Eizazuddin also can make several vaults at one go,” a proud Rao told THE WEEK.

Shekhar Rao

The teacher denied that he asked them to perform the act on the road on their way back home from school. Then how did the video end up on social media? “They asked me to shoot the video. And I could not resist uploading it,” he said.

Comaneci tweeted it and the one-minute video clip got worldwide attention within a few hours. Union Sports minister Kiren Rijiju retweeted the video, expressing his desire to meet the kids.

Indian gymnast Deepa Karmakar’s coach Biseswar Nandi was also in awe of the kids. “It’s amazing that they performed such a thing on a hard surface,” said Nandi from Agartala.

However, both Khan and Eizazuddin have no desire to follow Karmakar's career and become gymnasts. Instead, their dream is to become professional dancers.

Reshma Khatun, Khan's mother, said her daughter was fond of somersaults and practises it at home.

But she has a word of caution. “I used to warn her not to do that. If she gets hurt, then how will we get her married?” the worried mother asked. Her husband is a taxi driver, while Eizazuddin's father is a construction labourer.

However, the parents are thinking about shifting their kids from dance to gymnastics. “We hope the sports minister would help us. We would like to get them enrolled in a coaching centre for gymnastics,” said Reshma.

“Of course we are going to help them. They are geniuses. There are many talents hiding across Bengal like them. All such talents emerge from the streets,” assured West Bengal sports minister L.R. Shukla.