– Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

A nursery student of Mumbai’s Top 10 ranked Children’s Academy, Thakur Complex, three-year-old Shabad Dhaval Panchal is the latest child prodigy to join the league of youngest children displaying extraordinary memory and early learning skills development. Last September (2025) just before he crossed the three years age threshold, little Shabad was admitted into the Influencer Book of World Records (IBWR) as the youngest child to identify the national flags of 140 countries — in a record time of 4 minutes 52 seconds.

This is only the latest accomplishment of this boy wonder. Two months earlier, he secured two entries in the IBWR for exhibiting exceptional memory and geographical awareness by slotting India’s 28 states and eight Union territories in correct order, naming them aloud. He also impressed evaluators by reciting numbers from 1-100 and accurately identifying 25 different shapes and symbols, demonstrating extraordinary pattern recognition and numeracy skills.

The only child of tax professionals Dhaval Prahladbhai and Dipika Panchal, Shabad began displaying extraordinary memorisation skills in infancy. “We introduced colourful flashcards to Shabad when he was barely three months old. Within the next three months, he could identify animals, vegetables, and other objects on the cards by intensively looking at the correct image when prompted. We realised he possessed an exceptional power of recall, and continued to nurture his capabilities until we were convinced, they were God given,” says mother Dipika.

This playtime activity has now become a daily four-hour routine. “Shabad is so engrossed solving worksheets that he often gives up outdoor play and television time for them. Moreover, he loves engaging with educational toys and Do-It-Yourself puzzles. His current area of fascination is the universe and its planetary system,” says Dipika.

Encouraged by his parents to develop his passion, this nursery kid is ever eager to embrace new challenges. “Recently, he has shown interest in identifying currencies of countries worldwide and can recognise currency symbols of 90 countries. Simultaneously, we have introduced him to the world map so he can start solving world map puzzles,” says his justifiably proud mother.

Wunderbar!