World’s Youngest Marathon Runner
Budhia Singh, world’s youngest marathon runner was born in a poverty-stricken family in Orissa, and was sold off to a peddler by his mother for Rs. 800. He was rescued by Biranch Das, a Judo coach, who took him under his wings and started training him to be an Olympic marathon runner.
By the age of four, Budhia had completed as many as 48 marathons. He grabbed headlines when he completed the historic run of 65 km from Puri to Bhubaneshwar in seven hours and two minutes flat.
Budhia earned a place in Limca Book of Records for the same achievement. In 2011, a feature documentary titled Marathaon Boy on Budhia’s life was released and now a biopic on the Indian Protégé is hitting the threatres. Budhia Singh: Born To Run was released worldwide on August 5. Initially titled Duronto, the film was declared as the Best Children’s Film at the 63rd National Film Awards. Budhia is now in class 9.
Youngest Scholar
Sushma Verma from Lucknow completed her graduation and is pursuing a Master’s degree in Microbiology. At age seven, she breezed through the state high school examination, competing with students twice her age. Sushma wanted to become a doctor. She had completed Class 12 and taken the Combined Pre-Medical Test for admission to the MBBS course. But she does not know how she fared…..the authorities refused to released her results as she was underage .Prevented from pursuing medicine, Sushma decided to study microbiology. She graduated at the age of 13 and is now doing her Master’s degree. Her father is a Class 8 dropout and her mother never went to school. Both parents work as daily wage labourers and struggle to make ends meet. Her educational expenses are being borne by Sulabh International, an Indian NGO that works for the impoverished.
Akrit Jaiswal: Youngest surgeon
Akrit Jaiswal hit the headlines when, at the tender age of seven, he performed a surgery on the daughter of a neighbour who couldn’t afford medical fees. Though he wasn’t a qualified doctor the family requested him to separate their daughter’s fused burnt who has been no later fingers, which he did. Akrit who has an IQ of 146(80-100 is considered to the average IQ range), began walking and speaking when he was about 10 months old. He began studying medicine at the age of 12. At 17, he signed up for his Master’s course in applied chemistry, vowing to find a cure for cancer. Akrit, who has also appeared on the oprah winfrey is 23 today.
Priyanshi somani: Maths wiz kid
At 15, Priyanshi somani is a maths wiz who stunned people with her mental maths abilities at the tender age of 6. Despite being the youngest participant at the Mental Calculation World Cup in 2010, She went on to win the title beating 37 competitors from 16 countries. To win, She had to calculate the square root of 10 6-digit numbers in 2 minutes and 43 seconds which she did! Priyanshi was the only participant to have scored 100% accuracy in addition, multiplication and square root across all Mental Calculation World Cups. The pretty teenager loves to play chess and table tennis and excels at both games.
Keshva: Tabla master
Tabla prodigy Keshva wowed the world when he performed live at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth games in New Delhi. Born in Auroville, Keshva began learning the Tabla from the age of 2; He was 7 when he performed at the ceremony. His performance at the Commonwealth games it happened to be his first solo act went off flawlessly and garnered World Wide attention. Soon after the Commonwealth games performance, Keshva returned to a quiet life in Auroville, away from the Media attention. He lives like most other kids his age-cycling, climbing trees and reading fairy tales.