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Calendar boy rattles off dates till 2068 in 30 seconds

MUMBAI: The common ways of finding a future date on the calendar would involve surfing cellphone software or checking the Internet. But it may just be faster to ask this little student of Class III.

Eight-year-old Aryan Parab, who lives in Mulund, developed a curious pastime that has turned him into a child prodigy. Earlier this year, he began preparing calendars for future years. Now, he can accurately configure any day-date configuration till 2068. As TOI found out during a demonstration last week, it takes longer to surf a mobile for the answer.

The child has become the life of the party since he discovered his unique talent. Family and friends surround him to ask which day their birthdays will fall in future, and the child answers within 30-40 seconds. Incidentally, Aryan celebrated his birthday on November 16, which is also his parents’ wedding anniversary.

The little genius arrived with his mother Rupali and grandfather Suryakant Bhosle to the office of this newspaper and overawed everybody by his talent. A staffer asked which day her birthday, March 25, would fall in 2015.

Resting his hand on his chin he did some mental calculation and replied, "Wed." The child even reads the days like he sees them on the calendar. Another onlooker wanted to know the day corresponding with August 1, 2020. Thirty seconds later, he answered, "Sat." The questioner himself was yet to arrive at 2020 on his cellphone calculator. The shy child loves arithmetic most of all. He uses a variety of methods to calculate. "Sometimes I remember the first day of the month, then count forward weekly, and factor in leap years," he explained.

His grandfather said, "Aryan prepares an entire year’s calendar within 20-25 minutes without using any reference material or glancing at the Internet. He is gaining more insight over time. In fact as we were travelling today, he pointed out that the same calendar repeats itself every 11 years, so your birthday will fall the same day it did 11 years before."

Aryan’s mother Rupali is a software engineer with TCS and his father Jayant is a telecom professional. Last May, the couple saw that their son would lock himself up in his room during summer vacation and draw calendars. "I urged him to stop doing so once school started and he did, but during the recent Diwali holiday, he begged me to allow him to resume. He has completed drawing until 2068," Rupali said.

Aryan is now the subject of admiration in his school, Eurokids in Airoli, where even teachers enjoy asking birthdays. "He is a ready reckoner of dates, particularly those related to national leaders and national events. He remembers the birthdays of every single classmate, relative, friend and neighbour. The other day he pestered me to greet a casual acquaintance over the phone, and I yielded. She was so happy I remembered her birthday that we struck a bond over that conversation," his mother laughs.