Sahal’s Schooling: As per Ruchi “We got him admitted for Class 10 boards at the Vandana International School in Dwarka. He did all his studies for Class 11 and 12 from Narayana Institute.” When inquired how she observed about her son well performance at such a young age, Ruchi clarified to everyone about Sahal ‘He was always a very bright child, so it was not a surprise.’

Sahal’s Achievements & Interests: Sahal Kaushik too won 2 Asian Physics Olympiad medals — silver in 2009 & bronze for 2010. Sahal was too a participator of Asia School Camp at Japan in 2009 and is a student of the reputed Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana.

Conversing about his curiosity, Sahal revealed ‘I want to do research. I will either go for the integrated M.Sc. at IIT Kanpur or for the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research.’ Ruchi favored her son and told ‘He can do what he likes. We have never pressurized our children for anything.’

Personal Interests: Sahal’s mother told that Sahal is different from other students not just in his amazing performance but also in his interests & hobbies. Sahal is excited in reading history books & listening old songs. When inquired about his favorite singer, Sahal answered ‘It is hard to say who is my favorite but I like Kishore Kumar.’

Ruchi told over Sahal “He has a sharp brain, does calculations very fast, but fails to express very well on paper. Perhaps that is why he scored less in CBSE exams.”

There is no age bar for entering IIT, but a candidate is required to clear class XII. So, Sahal enrolled with Vandana International School, Dwarka, for two years. He scored 78% in PCM ^ marks that might not be enough to get him into a half-decent Delhi University college. Asked about his lacklustre class XII results, Sahal said, “That’s because I studied for only four days for each paper.”

“This boy doesn’t need a pen and paper. He solved JEE orally before selecting the answers. He speaks less, thinks more,” said U P Singh, Sahal’s mentor at Narayan IIT Academy. In the last two years, Sahal was given a separate group of teachers who taught him exclusively for six hours, six days a week.

“When he came to us at the age of 12 or 13, he said he was interested in electrostatics and also answered complex mathematical problems by just calculating them in the mind. I had never seen anyone like him before,” Singh said. “But he is what he is thanks to his mother who sacrificed her career to mentor him so well,” he added.

Sahal joined school only in 2006 and cleared class X in 2008. Before he was introduced to classroom teaching, his mother taught him “like it should be”. He never took any exam, even through NIOS. “I realised very early that my child was different. I didn’t send him to a school as I thought it would make him dull. I faced a lot of social pressure when I quit my practice and started teaching him at home 12 years ago. But it has paid off,” said Ruchi Kaushik.

She remembered that she never taught Sahal according to any set pattern. “Sometimes, we would study geography for days together. On some days, he only read novels. When he read Charles Dickens, I told him about society in London back then, and its history too. That’s how he learnt,” she explained.
Sahal’s father, who is in the Army, is posted in Assam. His sister, who is two years younger to him, also studies at home. “My daughter was initially slightly dyslexic but she has overcome it now. She is more into arts and more outgoing than Sahal,” Ruchi said.

Sahal has many “older” friends from the coaching centre. His mother has invested Rs 15 lakh to put together a library at home. “All our salary goes into this. We now have more than 2,000 books and Sahal has already read them all,” Ruchi said.

Does Sahal have any hobbies? Any special interests? “He knows all about Indian mythology,” said Ruchi. “He loves reading about Egyptian history and anthropology.” Her daughter, Saras, reminds her, “He also knows horse-riding and swimming.”

Little Saras said her brother has won the Olympiads in maths, physics, chemistry, biology and has also worked with Dr Ratnashree, head of Nehru Planetarium, on calibrations in Jantar Mantar. So did Ruchi ever try finding the reason for her son’s gifts? “Not really. That’s the way he is.”