M. AKHIL - a five year old Upper Kinder Garten boy, resides in Dindigul, India.

That’s definitely not news, anyway! 

The news is: Akhil has some rare qualities of 'child prodigy' in him. Yes! Compared with his peers, he possesses some extraordinary memory power. This has brought him into the limelight today.

His specialties:

MAGIC SQUARES
Akhil forms magic squares very well. First, a brief intro on 'Magic Square'...
A magic square is a square in which the numbers are filled in a shuffled manner [using one number once] to bring out the uniform answer in either way of totaling like, horizontal, vertical or diagonal.

[eg] 3² means : 3x3=9 boxes

Akhil forms 'magic squares' for 4²,5²,6²,7²,8² up to 20². Imagine! 20² means 20 x 20 = 400 boxes and using numbers from 1 to 400 to complete the square... that too by a tiny tot. But he does all these things with ease because he knows the numbers' exact positions in the blocks.

COMPUTER WIZARD
Akhil is so efficient in handling computers. Apart from the kids' choice of Paint & Power point, he is good at "3D HOME ARCHITECT "software. He prepares a house plan by himself, putting things in apposite places like sofa in the living room and sink in the kitchen and all. He is so sharp in handling the "ADOBE PHOTOSHOP " software. He does all the creative work based on a given photograph. Suppose the theme is ‘indoors’. He scans, selects the subject by using various tools. With background CD he selects a new outdoor background, opens a new file, merges both the subject & the new background. And applies all the digital effects... all by himself.

WORLD MAP READING
He locates all the Continents, Oceans, Imaginary lines [such as, equator, line tropic of cancer, international date line...] and Countries in the World Map. He tells their capitals too. He identifies all the states and the union territories and knows their capitals as well.

WORLD FLAGS
He identifies all Countries' national flags in a jiffy. He draws about more than 50 Countries' flags without seeing. He even tells the colours in the flags and the order of colours.

[eg] India

        position... horizontal

        colours... saffron, white and green with blue Asoka Chakra in the centre.

CHEMICAL ELEMENTS
He knows the symbols for more than 50 chemical elements and vice versa.

[eg] Cadmium - Cd

       Si      - Silicon

MUSIC
He is so passionate about music and loves singing. He is a fast learner of Key Board musical instrument. His fingers dance on the keys when he plays 'thattu varisai' or 'alangaram'. He is a proud student of musical genius Violin. R. Krishnamoorthy.

CHESS
His current interest is chess these days and he moves the pieces so astutely. He plays like professionals, noting down the moves of his own and his opponent's too. We can hope another VISWANATHAN ANAND is in the offing.                      

Akhil is a lovable kid in his school also. He has attended many competitions and come out with laurels already.

Now for an interview with Akhil’s family on behalf of Akhil

When was Akhil’s capabilities recognized and how?
He is so fond of writing and drawing. When his peers struggled to cope with straight lines and slanting lines he started writing the English alphabets and numbers so fluently and he was only 2 then. 

Sensing his interest in writing we began giving him practice in MAGIC SQUARES. His grandpa is his mentor in this field.

What was the motivation factor for Akhil considering children his age are occupied with playing? 
Well, he is also very much interested in playing but showed equal curiosity to learn as well. The colourful WORLD MAP he received from his grandpa on his 3^rd birthday was a real turning point because he was able to read only India map before that. Thereafter, he spent almost all his time with that new gift and soon he was thorough with the World Map too.

Public performances given? 

• Akhil first gave a 6 minute performance in the Sun TV’s ‘Malarum  Mottum’ . programme as a Special Child

•  Highly impressed with his 6 minute programme Sun TV did produce a separate ‘60’ minute [yes! 1 full hour] programme on Akhil’s various talents as SATHANAI NAYAGAN and telecast it in 3 episodes in the Vanakkam Tamizhagam section.

• A leading Tamil daily ‘Dina Malar’ carried a detailed news item on Akhil on the Children’s day.

• A 20 minute appearance by Akhil as ‘Mazhalai Methai’ in Door Darshan’s ‘Kanmani Poonga’ in May 2002.

• SIRUVAR MALAR magazine did a beautiful two full page coverage on Akhil in June,2002

These apart, he has given many performances in various places.

Who are Akhil’s mentor/tutor?
His parents C. MANIVANNAN – M. HEMALATHA. 

Other interests he has…
Chess, Cycling, Cricket and of course, his toys. 

What are Akhil’s non-routine daily activities?
Sharpening his skills!

A few words from his school/class teacher:
He has a tremendous grasping power. His performance is always above our expectations. He is all set to be a child prodigy.

Akhil's parents are planning to nominate his skills in MAGIC SQUARE for the Limca Book of Records.While speaking to them, we could recognise their difficulty in finding materials and facilities to groom this little wonder in Dindigul, a small town in Tamilnadu. 'If we were in any Metropolitan city, he would have completed at least three to four grades of Trinity College of Music credits because he is that passionate about music', was one of their remarks. Though they are not seeking any sponsorship for Akhil's development now, they felt they were short of good study materials.

 When asked about Akhil's career plans they accept that it is going to be a difficult decision as the boy is multifaceted and his interest is far and wide. However, Akhil wants to be a doctor - though it well could be a childhood fascination.

Certainly, Akhil is going to play a part in elevating India's image in the world arena. Would you like to play a part in his cheering squad? Write to him @ : akhilmanivannan@rediffmail.com