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* Four-year-old T. Rishivarma – Inspiring! (Picture source: The Star)
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The Star today reported a truly inspiring story of a four year old T. Rishivarma who has effortlessly memorized the verses from the Thirukkural (an ancient Tamil book on good conduct written in a poetic form) even before he has learned how to read and write. He memorized the verses just by listening as his mother reads them to him.An icing on the cake is the handwritten letter of appreciation from the Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam addressed to Rishivarma advising the boy to study hard and be successful in life.
My son is now 1 year 4 month old and he can now hum songs from “Kal Ho Na Ho” especially those scenes where Preity Zinta is in (hei, don’t look at me that way!). He knows what a “PC” means and once he has sat down on my lap, he will pull my hands towards to the mouse. Half way, listening to music, he will check on my USB port and say “eeh eeh” while pointing to it. So, I will pass him my flash drive and immediately he will try to slot it in the USB port.
My wife takes care of other things like teaching him the “A, B, C…” the “1, 2, 3…” and reading him some stories. He can now identify a lot of things for example what a “cat” would look like. Whenever, he is bored with learning, he will do his “Terminator” act…tearing apart the books. So, alternatively, we would open up the TV for educational kiddies show (will blog about it next week) and he will sit on sofa, quietly watching the shows (that’s gives enough time for my wife to do some house work).
My target is now to teach him on how to play chess although I gather it will take some time before he actually understands that the chess pieces are not meant to be chewed! It is a good game for the mind – me and my wife often play at night after my son have gone to sleep.
Learning something like the Thirukkural would be a heavy stuff for now, so, I will start slow on other things.
T. Rishivarma, thanks for the inspiration…a great way to start the day.
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