India has always had a fascination with child prodigies. Child prodigies are “discovered” in India with surprising regularity. Yet, our country is still languishing in the shallow end of the innovation pool. Every time a child prodigy is “found”, the news is spattered all over the media, people rush to recognize and honour him/her, and a week later, life is back to where it always was. Matters have become so bad, that we have some taking advantage of this (the Tathagat Avtar Tulsi – DST affair, though his recent appointment as IIT professor confuses me).
Child prodigies are typically noted for achieving in their childhood, that which others take longer to achieve (we often hear of child prodigies becoming doctors, research fellows, animators, etc.). Everyone rushes to congratulate them, shower them with awards and possibly grants, and then, they are forgotten except by their social circle (or bloggers researching them to write such articles). Why are they not nurtured into true geniuses who can help forge a better tomorrow? Is India incapable of such support? If it is, where are the successful scientists and mathematicians who were discovered as child prodigies?
A quick scan on the net showed ONE child prodigy who has grown up into an adult prodigy, and that too, in the last century. Of course, I am talking about Srinivasa Ramanujan, a child prodigy who had gone beyond what many adults had achieved (discovering theorems when he was still 12) and who went on to contribute significant advancements to mathematics. From what the media proclaims, India has never had a dearth of geniuses. Then, why are we no longer competitive with the rest of the world? Where are the geniuses?
They dont stay in India… their hunger dies as they reach US…consumerism blinds them…and they continue as normal human beings!!! Thats the case wid many who stay back in India as well…
leave genius to nature, very pretty but still a weed.
a weed could be medicinal if theres research and testing to back it up.
It’s sad that despite having many “geniuses” and a more-than-qualified scientific and engineering workforce, India is still lagging …
Ever heard of this – “Beyond a level, talent doesn’t matter..Its attitude that matters”.. Many of the young people having very high IQ fare very low on EQ which is needed as you grow up.. And sadly, our educational system does not focus much on building the EQ.