The world came crumbling down for Nandkishore Giri when he was told his son, Pratyush Kumar, just four years old then, had lost his eyesight. Nandkishore who sells cosmetic products going from door to door, had taken his son to one of the best hospitals in Delhi but had to leave disappointed. He then brought Pratyush to Chennai where the boy’s vision impairment was temporarily treated. However, he lost his vision completely again.
Pratyush, now eight, was then too small to understand what he was going through. However, his father made sure that he lived a normal life and sent him to a school for the visually impaired. “I travel a lot and whenever I am around, I’d drop him at school. While dropping, he’d ask me when I would return. I’d give him a date and he would tell me what day it was. He did that often. I never took it seriously, but one day we checked. We kept throwing dates and years at him and he was right every single time,” says Pratyush’s father.
The kid had lost his eye sight, but had got a gift in return. Pratyush takes seconds to solve challenges thrown at him. A shy kid, he however takes time to warm up to people.
He says, “I never learnt how to do this but I just know the answers. There are some additions and subtractions and my brains does it by itself.” Pratyush, who wants to become an IAS officer when he grows up, has the ability to crunch numbers. After he gets comfortable, he challenges you, asking you to read out four to five telephone numbers and five minutes later, he remembers all the numbers. “Tell him any number of numbers and he would repeat them to you whenever you want. Maybe even 20 years later,” says his father, who wants his son’s talent to be recognised and encouraged. “We come from a humble background and I want his talent to be recognised. He should become an encouragement and inspiration to people who are in similar situations.”
Nandkishore and Pratyush hail from Bihar and are currently here for treatment at Sankara Nethralaya. They are staying at the facility Bihar Association, Gopalapuram.
