Niranjan keeps NLSIU record intact

BANGALORE:In a formidable show of academic achievement, the National Law School of IndiaUniversity has produced a Rhodes Scholar every year since 1996, except in2006.This year is no different, with Niranjan V winning it to studyin Oxford University next year. "I always dreamt of practising law in India. Ican't imagine doing anything else. I know that Oxford will give me just theskills," said Niranjan. "There were 500 applications from India, of which 125were law students."With the application, candidates write a personalstatement, detailing why they want to study at Oxford and how they plan to usethe stint. It is mandatory to have six letters of recommendation -- three fromtheir professors and three from people they have worked with."Therewas a preliminary interview on our personal statement on September 5 in Mumbai.But I did brush up on my general knowledge and read my essay thoroughly," headded. There was a two-week wait before he was informed he was one of the topfinalists and the final interview was on October 12. "The night before waswonderful. We had an informal chat with panelists including Ratan Tata, RahulGandhi, Rakhi Mehra and Sanjeev Sanyal," recalls Niranjan.During theinterview, Niranjan was asked mostly on arbritationa and taxation law. Threehours later Niranjan had got the scholarship. "I was elated. My dream to go toOxford will finally be fulfilled," said Niranjan, a big fan of the Chelseafootball team of the English Premier League.FAMOUS RHODESSCHOLARS* Bill Clinton, US President* Strobe Talbott, USdeputy secretary* Kris Kristofferson, musician andactor* Naomi Wolf, author and feminist social critic*Edwin Hubble, astronomer* Lord Howard Florey, joint discoverer ofpenicillinNLSIU winners * Sushila Rao(2009)* Arghya SenGupta (2008) * Ramya Raghuram (2007)* Neha Jain (2005) * Prithviraj Datta, Tarunabh Khaitan(2004)* Shyamkrishna Balganesh (2003) * Sameer Singh(2002)* Rahul Rao (2001) * Nandan Kamath, AnandDamodaran, Dev Saif Ganjee (2000)* Sandeep Sreekumar, ThomasSebastian (1999) * Menaka Guruswamy, Sudhir Krishnaswamy (1998)* Sandeep G (1997) * Lavanya Rajamani (1996)Rhodes Scholarship* Oldest international educationalfellowships initiated after death of Cecil Rhodes in 1902* Bringsoutstanding students from all over the world to Oxford University*For the first 38 years, India had one or two scholarships every year. This wasincreased to three in 1985, four in 1991 and since 1998, six everyyear* Law students win 40% of thesescholarshipstoiblr.reporter@timesgroup.com