By M. Palani Selvi, B.Sc.,
My Brain calculates quicker than the speed of a calculator. Breaking these records, once held by math maestros like Scott Flansburg and Shakuntala Devi, is a matter of national pride
- Neelakantha Bhanu Prakash
Human Brain has unbelievable power beyond our imagination. Only a few people use this power and expose their talent to the world. On this line, Twenty-year-old Neelakantha Bhanu Prakash Jonnalagadda from Hyderabad won the Mental Calculation World Championship, held by Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) in London. The event has been held since 1998. This year MSO was held virtually on August 15. Defeating twenty-nine competitors, from 13 countries including UK, UAE, Germany, Greece, France and Lebanon in the Mind Sports Olympiad, Bhanu Prakash won the gold medal with 65 points and he is the first Indian to win the Mind Sports Olympiad. He now breaks Shakuntala Devi and Scott Flansburg’s records and becomes the fastest Human-Computer. He is currently studying Mathematics (Hons.) at Delhi University’s St. Stephen College. He holds four world records and 50 Limca records for his fastest mind calculations. In his early years, he met with an accident and had a major head injury. After coming back home, his mother introduced him to puzzles. In the long run, it helped him to improve his cognitive skills. He started practising calculations 4-5 hours a day. Apart from calculations, Bhanu Prakash likes to read books, travel and to play video games. In leisure time he writes codes and business consultations. He completed 9 levels of Abacus, a Grand Master programme offered by SIP Academy. He won the International Abacus Champion 2013 and National Abacus Champion 2011 and 2012.
Creating “VISION MATH” lab and reaching out to millions of children to make them start loving maths is his long term goal. Through this, he believes that Maths phobia can be eradicated among the students. He says, “For any country to develop and thrive globally, numeracy is as important a skill as literacy”. He also runs a start-up named Exploring Infinities, a math education partner of T-SAT, the education channel of the Telangana government. It is working with 60 government schools in Telangana. He sees learning math as a mental sport which enhances cognitive skills. He says his plans would put India on the “Global map of excellence”. He is also running some programmes in countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and Indonesia
‘The Mathemagician’, Bhanu Prakash proved to be the pride of India. At the young age of 20, besides bringing laurel to the country, he comes with Vision and Mission to develop arithmetic knowledge among the students. Bhanu Prakash proved that through consistent practice one can excel in arithmetic calculations. Mathematics nurtures the power of reasoning, creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving ability. The continuous computation exercises improve one’s mental stamina. So, he steps forward to build a strong mathematical knowledge among the students through his ideas.