The Young dynamic, 20 yrs, Neelkantha Bhanu the fastest Human Calculator
by Shreeya RoyNeelkantha Bhanu Prakash, aged 20 years is the first person to win first-ever gold in mental calculation world championships. Born and raised in Hyderabad, Neelakanta has emerged as the fastest human calculator in the world.
Neelkantha is a graduate in Math from St Stephen’s College, Delhi and during his entire life, he has won many awards. This award adds a crown to his achievements as he has won the first-ever gold for India in the Mental Calculation World Championship at the Mind Sports Olympiad held in London this week. He is the first Indian to win the coveted title.
This Championship was held in London where he competed with 30 participants from 13 countries including the UK, Germany, UAE, France, Greece, and Lebanon, and reached the top in the first attempt itself. Since he had an aptitude towards mathematic calculation since his childhood, his parents got him enrolled in the SIP abacus programme.
By sheer prowess as a mathematical whiz kid, he completed nine levels of the Abacus, Grand Master programme offered by SIP Academy. He went on to win the International Abacus Champion ’13 and National Abacus Champion ’11 & ’12. Some of his World Records include “Fastest Human Calculation”, “Power Multiplication Record” and “The Super Subtraction Record”.
Bhanu hails from a middle-class family in India, where the aim is usually to settle for an excellent job or open a business, and not go into a niche field like Maths. But given his flair for numbers, Bhanu is about to complete his degree in Mathematics. His achievement is next to Shakuntala Devi whose movies are making waves on OTT platforms now.
Neelkantha has his startup Exploring Infinities (EI), which is working with the Government of Telangana and through them, with students studying in government schools. EI has reached out to different educational institutions, trained them in speed and cognitive ability development by harnessing infinite potentials of the human brain through gamified learning modules on mobile apps.
He shared that he practices with loud music on, talking to people, catching, and playing cricket, because this is when your brain is being trained to do multiple things at the same time. The records and calculations are just a metaphor for him. He believes that the world needs mathematicians and if taught in the right way, it can prove to be a subject that we love. His ultimate mission is to “eradicate maths phobia as a lot of people are afraid of numbers.
Neelkantha has indeed made us proud of being an Indian.