Four-year-old child prodigy with an elephant’s memory

Born in a peasant's family—his father, Kuldip Prasad Gupta is a farmer holding a below poverty line (BPL) card—this 4-year-old child prodigy from Sarmandi village in Jharkhand's Tamad block, around 60 km east of capital Ranchi, can spell out general details of 210 countries and identify their flags, explain the periodic table taught in chemistry classes of high school students, can name the controversial leaders of the world and learn anything new shown to him within minutes. For almost two years, Abhishikt Kumar Gupta's inherent talent remained confined to his village. His father, through his limited resources, would buy him new books to satiate his craving for more and more knowledge. However, much to his surprise the child would memorise the books within minutes and ask for more new books. When taken to Ranchi he left authorities spellbound and they offered to help. State management information system (MIS) coordinator of the education department, Sachin Kumar said, “He is not the usual child of his age. We did not want to waste his talent. Therefore, we got him admitted in the DPS under the right to education section 12 (1) (C). The education department will afford the school fees, which is Rs. 425 per month, while the Union Bank of India has promised to pay for his uniforms and study materials.”