Like other children his age, Vishal Anand (7) loves ice cream and chocolate, and thrills to running, skating and cycling. The difference is, he is autistic. But in medical parlance Vishal is an autistic ‘savant’, an inarticulate individual gifted with innate knowledge. According to American psychiatrist Dr. Darold Treffert, autistic savants have prodigious memory and are exceptionally gifted in specialised fields.

Vishal’s special field is physical science, specifically renewable energy. Although socially reticent and unable to verbalise his thoughts, he is a (laptop) computer whiz and with the assistance of his mother Vidhya, keys in his ideas on radioactive renewable energy, which he believes is found in fresh water, and strategies for harnessing this energy, among others. On these weighty matters, he regularly corresponds with Abhishek Shivakumar, a research scholar at Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Unsurprisingly, Vishal has already written and published his first book Meadow of Moods (2010) when he was six years of age. The book is a wry account of the emotional mood swings of autistic children, with each chapter ending in a philosophical quote in Hindi. Vishal’s love of the sun, rain and water and physical entities also find place in a colourful coffee table book (Landmark, Chennai) for which this young physicist was nominated for the CavinKare Ability Awards 2012 — the youngest ever nominee — and was specially invited to the awards ceremony.

One of two children of corporate executive A.R. Anand and soft skills trainer Vidhya, Vishal attends Sankalp, a special school for children with learning disabilities. Although he is placed in the intermediary group II & III, Vishal’s knowledge far exceeds that of his peers, and school mainly serves the purpose of acquiring social interaction skills. “We have taken him to several occupational therapists to help him develop basic skills for independent living, and hone his motor skills. His mentor Mythili Chari, founder of the Chennai-based Institute for Remedial Intervention Services, has been very supportive in encouraging Vishal’s talents,” says Vidhya.

Vishal’s parents have started interacting with researchers at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, who have shown interest in his renewable energy theories. ‘My hero is Nobel laureate Albert Einstein. I am keen on doing research to create a device using radioactive renewable energy in columns of fuel cells which can be used in cars, homes and industry,” he enthuses.

Power to your elbow!

Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)