The Indian Boy Story

In the past two weeks, there's just too much hoo-hah about Hindraf and the plights of many Indians. It wouldn't be complete if I do not add this one, this plight of an Indian boy.

Akrit Jaswal was born in April 23, 1993. He is a child genius. At the age of 5, he started reading Shakespeare and at 7, he performed an operation on a 8-year-old girl whose fingers were fused together after being burnt.

As a child prodigy, Akrit gained fame in his native India as a physician, despite never having attended medical school. He became India's youngest university student at the age of 12, he studied for a Science degree in Punjab University, Chandigarh, India. He possesses books such as Gray's Anatomy, and textbooks on surgery, anesthesia, anatomy, physiology, Cancer, and others. Akrit claims to have mastered them with his daily habit of studying for an hour.

Akrit, at his young age speaks and thinks like an adult, and an intellectual. His knowledge of science and genetic therapy was fantastic. Akrit have been working on a cure for cancer for several years, based on theories of oral gene therapy and to modify the genome to cure cancer. Akrit's parent knew that, without the multi-million dollars resources most academics have available to them, their son was at a distinct disadvantage. So they sold all their property, including their school, to set up a personal research laboratory for their son in Delhi.

Akrit now lives there with his mother and uncle. "His needs are more important than mine," says Raksha. "It's our duty to encourage his talent."

His dad, Julwant Singh, 42, and mum, Anju Raksha, 40, both saw his potential and wanted to help me excel in life. They were both teachers, who ran their own school for the kids in the area. Akrit attended but soon found it too easy. So, when his mother realised he was correctly answering graduate-level questions, the roles were reversed and the youngster began to teach maths and English to teenagers.

Akrit's dad, Julwant, having spent years failing to persuade the Indian government to provide funding for his son, claims his efforts have exhausted him. He hasn't seen Akrit for a year and says he doesn't want to be reunited until the youngster finds the cancer cure he's looking for. Julwant is still married to Akrit's mother but says he has done his part in helping his son and is too exhausted to support him further. It seems like a huge amount of pressure for a boy to be put under but Akrit insists this isn't the case. "Of course, I miss my father," he admits. "I wish he was still living with us. But it has made me more determined to make the discovery I know I have in me."

Akrit was invited to Imperial College of London and spent some wonderful time understanding the scientific researches over there. In the discussions with the scientists at Imperial College, Akrit displayed great skills in communication and insightful knowledge of cancer cells and DNAs. His cure involves the modification of malformed genes that cause cancer and their successful repair either by activating enzymes or with the direct modification of genotoxic drugs. Akrit said: "I've a duty to stop all the suffering in the world - I won't waste my talent".

At Imperial, Akrit met up with Professor Mustafa Djamgoz, a world-renowned research biologist, and his colleague Mr Anup Patel, a consultant urological surgeon, who both believed that his ideas are realistic and worth pursuing.

The inquisitors become his friends, Mr Patel and Professor Djamgoz are keen to foster Akrit's enthusiasm, keen to protect him from disappointment, and willing to guide him on his way.

Professor Djamgoz says of Akrit: " He is generating ideas based upon what he knows, in an idealistic sort of way, without being in full grip of reality, without knowing how difficult it is to turn the ideas into practical realities".

Rosemary Facer, a childhood psychologist, put forward the theory that Akrit had been an early developer accounting for the good results and because of this early genius he had missed out on later schooling accounting for the poor practical results. These results do not affect what Akrit may achieve, but he needs help, a wise friend to talk to.

The Professor's analysis is that Akrit needs to obsess less and enjoy more. He thinks Akrit shows great potential but it needs to be properly guided.

Is it possible that this young boy knows something the medical profession does not? Throughout history, scientific breakthroughs have come not only from the established, the learned, and the scholarly, but also from single flashes of insight and inspiration.

Watching the videos of Akrit, I couldn't help but get so emotionally involved with his aspiration and determination. He is such a lovely boy. He is so intelligent and had so much wisdom. I can only wish that his dreams can be made true and that he would soon, discover the wholesome cure for cancer patients. The whole world has hope on him, and we can only wish him well.

The unfortunate thing is that Akrit needs financial resources and facilities to experiment with his ideas. This is an area of handicap. If each of us in this universe would donate $1 dollar to his cause, his project, it would have enough to see him through to fruition of his dream to find a total cure for cancer. Instead, we spent more time and money to display ferocious and farcical ideas such as to buy a Soyuz to learn reverse engineering. I am sure there are some children in Malaysia who is in the mold of Akrit. You can read another article of a Malaysian Genius Sofia Yusof here and here

Watch the video of Akrit, a precocious child, and you can understand his ideology and philosophy in life, the frustration of his father who become depressed and exhausted battling 6 years with the Indian bureaucracy to get acknowledged for fundings for his son's research, how his mother continues relentlessly and resiliently stood by and supported her son's ultimate dream, and his journey at Imperial College.

More here, here, here, and here.