Sai Anish is a wonder kid. At the age of three when he could barely string sentences together, he used to recognise more than 60 brands of cars in one minute and forty seconds. Not surprisingly, his incredible ability has earned him a place in the Guinness World Records.
At present, Sai is five and can identify more than 80 cars in three minutes and six seconds. He does it by seeing pictures, videos or the cars themselves. He can correctly name the brand of car even from a distance. Besides, he can also identify cars by looking at their dashboards. So far, he has three national and 11 international records mentioned in World Genius Records, Nigeria, World Book Of Records, London, UK, Assist World Records, Champions Book Of World Records, Innovative World Records, Everest World Records, Creative Records Nepal, Indian Achievers Book of World Records, Real World Records, Kerala Book of Records, and Kalam Book of Records. Adding one more feather to his cap, the Shemrock Group of Pre-schools has chosen Sai Anish as its brand ambassador in Odisha.
Sai’s father Saroj Kumar Pattnaik is an engineer in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), in Sunabeda, Koraput district. He said: “I still remember when Sai was barely a year old, he saw a car’s picture in a newspaper and tried to pull and play with it. In the months that followed, he started asking me questions about cars. It was his playschool that spotted his rare ability and informed us about it. And, to my surprise, I found him identifying a few car brands that I had shown him some days back. After learning about my son’s ability, we decided to buy a new car. We found that Sai could identify any car by just glancing at its picture. Later, he identified the models of 61 cars in a minute and 40 seconds.”
He continued: “Parents wish to be recognised by the achievements of their children. Sai has made us famous. I cherish the moments when people ask me ‘Are you Sai’s father?’ We faced the camera for the first time for an exclusive show on a news channel because of him. I can’t forget the day when we got a call from the director and chairman of Shemrock Group of Pre-schools Amol Arora telling us that he was interested to have Sai as his brand ambassador. It is only because of him that we met singer and music director Bappi Lahiri Ji at a programme hosted by World Book of Records, London where Sai was honoured with the India Pride award. The legendary music director was all praise for Sai. He asked Sai to dance to his song. When Sai danced, Bappi sir also joined him.”
Swarupa Patnaik, Sai’s mother, says, “He used to ask his father to show him various models of cars on the Internet and would go on asking many questions regarding the vehicles. I never imagined that he would take so much interest in cars. He has made us proud. This year, Sai was felicitated by district collector K Sudarshan Chakravarthy during the Republic Day celebrations.”
On his favourite pastime, Sai says, “I love to spend time with my grandparents Ranjit Kumar Pattnaik, Basant Kumari Pattnaik, Surendra Kumar Pattnaik and Geetanjali Pattnaik. They fulfill all my demands. That’s why I love to be with them all the time and have fun.”
About his aim, Sai who has been felicitated with India Pride Award, Koshal Time Award, Parab Samman Award, Junior Master Litera Award, Kalinga Bharati Pratibha Samman and Koraput Pratibha Samman, says, “I would like to be a research scientist in the field of automobile design.”
RASHMI REKHA DAS, OP