Teen genius

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A shade under 14 years and he has cracked the prestigious Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) for IITs, twice. What’s more, Satyam Kumar from Bakhorapur Village, Ara, in Bihar had cracked the IIT-JEE last year as well and he wasn’t even 13 then. That had made him the youngest to crack the JEE, beating the earlier record holder, Sahal Kaushik from Delhi who had passed the exam in 2010 at the age of 14.

After last year’s feat, many had said that Satyam had got lucky. And to prove them and to himself that it was not a fluke, Satyam slogged for another year, sat for the exam again and not only passed, but bettered his score by a huge margin.
His rank has improved drastically — from last year’s 8,137 to 679 — improving his chances of getting a better college and stream.
When asked whether any IITs have offered him a place or showed any preferential treatment given his achievement, Satyam says in a voice which is way more mature than his age, “Engineers follow rules and I would like to do the same.”
His family agrees that adherence to rules and a strict routine has been Satyam’s key to bettering his rank this year. “I just follow a set routine. Even my time for Internet surfing is pre-decided,” he says, adding that the changed format for the IIT-JEE did not make a difference as his concepts were clear.
However, the teenager hasn’t been buried in his books while pursuing his goal. He is really enthusiastic about cricket and football and watches the matches on TV at times and even takes time out on weekends to play.
When he was just eight, Satyam had moved to Kota, the hub of engineering coaching, where he stayed with his uncle Ram Prakash Singh and his grandmother.

His parents — his father’s a farmer and his mother a homemaker — stayed back in Bakhorapur and dreamt of their kid becoming famous one day.
His parents say that they always knew that their child was different. “He was just two when he started grasping numbers and reciting phrases and poems which kids older than him couldn’t,” says Satyam’s mother Pramila Singh, who confesses to being just “Matric pass’.
In a mix of Hindi-Magahi (the local language), she says that it was Satyam’s bua and chacha who saw his potential and taught him regularly.
“However, he did not go to school till Class VIII. There’s no proper system in place for schooling in the village. Once when we sent him to school, he didn’t like the experience and came back,” says Ram Prakash. Adds Satyam, “I never felt like going to the school in my village. There is just one government school and no rules and regulations are followed. It disturbs me. A single teacher teaches all the subjects. Someone who teaches Class I also teaches Class VIII.”
The child prodigy’s uncle adds that when Satyam was eight, a chance meeting with R.K. Verma, a graduate of IIT-Madras and owner of Resonance Eduventures Pvt. Ltd. — a JEE preparation institute — established his future path. “After talking to Satyam, Verma saab realised that he had potential. He called us to Kota and since then has taken care of most of the expenses. He has also guided Satyam in his studies,” says Prakash, adding that it was Verma who helped them get special permission for Satyam to sit for his Class VIII and Class X Board exams. “At 10, he was the youngest to clear the Class X Board exams as well,” he points out.
While Satyam’s father Shivnath Singh wants him to become a scientist, the 13-year-old wishes to create something similar to the social networking site Facebook one day. He confesses to being a Facebook junkie but thinks that social networking should be made easier for people from rural areas and thus wants to create a simplified version.
He has a staggering 2,298 friends on Facebook, of whom around 1,200 are IIT-ians. “I chat with them regularly. Some of them have become really close and have even guided and counselled me during preparation,” he adds.
“My parents have dedicated their entire lives to making a better future for my brother and me, so I want to do everything possible to make my family happy. My brother, Shivam, who is 11 years old, also dreams of doing something big. He wants to become a doctor and I am providing him with all the support I can. He has also moved to Kota now and I teach him whenever I get the time.”
Satyam wants to study Mathematics and Computer Science at IIT-Delhi. However, keeping in mind that it’s difficult to get one’s first choice, his other options are Electrical Engineering or a dual degree from IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Kanpur or IIT-Bombay.
His mother, understandably, is concerned about her son going to college at so young an age. “Exam clear karne se kya hoga, hai toh bachcha hi. College toh bade jaate hain,” she says. Satyam, however, isn’t worried that he will have to live with classmates elder to him though stories of ragging are making him a little anxious. He says, “I believe that since I’m too young, most people will support me instead of bullying me.”