4-year-old UP child prodigy studying in Class IX

Lucknow: Her sister Sushma is 15 and is doing her doctorate in microbiology after completing masters in the same subject.

Her brother Shailendra had passed high school examination at the age of nine and now Ananya, at the age of four, has been admitted straightaway into class nine — and this even before she has started formal schooling.

Ananya, who completes the family trinity, is the youngest starter in this family of child prodigies.

Their father, Tej Bahadur Varma, now a supervisor in the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, had taken Ananya to the market when he met a teacher from the St Mira’s College where his two other children had studied.

While the teacher got talking to the father, Ananya picked up one of her books and started reading it. The teacher was astounded and called Tej Bahadur and Ananya to the school. Ananya was asked to take a test and she was found fit for admission to class nine.

The school manager Vinod Ratra said, “Ananya is even more talented than her siblings. We have sought permission for her admission to class 9 from the district inspector of schools and have cited the cases of her siblings. We are confident of getting the permission and we will also ensure that Ananya gets free education in our institution”.

Incidentally, Sushma was five years old when she was admitted to class nine in the same school.

Tej Bahadur says that his children have never taken tuitions or any special facilities simply because he could never afford them. “Ananya has been a quick learner. She would just pick up any book and start reading even. She even started reading the Ramayana and now remembers most of it by heart. She is a quiet child and never makes demands,” says her mother Chhaya.

About his all three children being prodigies, Taj Bahadur says, “It is all God’s gift. My children wanted to study and I could not afford them good education so probably god gave them exceptional talent. My children have even built a future for their father because it was their fame that got me this job”.

Ananya, however, is undecided about what she wants to become when she grows up.

She smiles and evades questions but her mother says, “We are not going to pressurise her at all. She can choose what she wants to do and we will do our best for her”.