Lucknow boy elated with award

“The topic was the `most important person’ and not the `best person’. In this category, Hitler — who had changed the destiny of the world — was the best choice in my perception,” says Thomas.

He didn’t even know he’d won the prize till this reporter met him. “I’m elated with this,” was all he said.

In his essay, Thomas says that Hitler, by causing the Second World War and engineering the Holocautst, has most influenced the century and “eclipsed it with his pure evil”. He has also quoted Nostrdamus in describing Hitler in his essay as “the offspring of Germany who observes no law.”

His choicealso emanated from the fact that he has a fondness for reading books related to wars and defence — Hitler, therefore was an obvious choice. But this is definitely not your run-of-the-mill teenager attracted to action and violence he sees on television.

Thomas is well aware of war and its consequences and has his own solutions for international disputes. He feels the tension between India and Pakistan should be eased out through bilateral talks but is against any third-party any third-party involvement. “An all-out war between the two nations will lead to large-scale destruction as both the countries are equipped with nuclear weapons, the use of which will be against humanity,” says the shy teenager.

This is the first time he has won a big prize like this. He is also interested in environmental causes. After school, Thomas has ruled out following his father into the IAS as the job “is boring”. He wants to study engineering instead.