A Human Calendar!

Ask him randomly which day would fall on the 16th of February in the year 4555 and in a fraction of a second comes his reply - “It would be a Sunday.” He doesn’t have to add, “If I am not mistaken...” It literally takes him less than a minute to calculate mentally and arrive at the correct answer, without using a pen or a pencil. One can then search in google and get the exact day and wonder how this man in his sixties can exhibit such amazing memorising skills, when most elderly of his age suffer from dementia or alzimer’s!   

“In fact my memorising ability is speeding up with age. Early this month, I have memorised the calendar - as a New Year’s gift to my brain,” smiles Vinayak Naik, editor, ‘Goa Today’ who is known for his wonderful memory in close circles. People often call him to ask about a particular century that Sachin Tendulkar had scored in some international cricket match. He easily tells it. Many Saraswats who wish to know more about the unhindered lineage of 23 Mathadhipatis (spiritual heads) and their exact tenures at Shree Samsthan Gokarn Partagali Jeevottam Math (that started in 1475 AD and has a history of over 530 years), Vinayak can tell the names of all those who ruled the Math, right from the first Swamiji and the period of his tenure to the year of his Samadhi up to the present Mathadhipati, H H Vidyadhiraj Teerth Swamiji - all in order and without a single mistake. 

Vinayak, one of the names of Lord Ganesh is the God of wisdom and this probably is one of the reasons why Vinayak Naik is blessed with this extreme talent that very few people possess in Goa. People often complaint of forgetting their own mobile number but here’s a man who knows by heart 2000 plus mobile numbers of the people around him. Ask him the name of countries where Olympic Games were held and in which year, and he will tell you that in a minute. He can tell you all the cover stories of his monthly magazine since 1985 till date. Ask him to name the 51 states in the United States of America and he will utter them in a second as if the files in his brain are saved systematically just like computer folders and he can draw particular information at one click of the mouse.   

This human calendar, a super computer has recently mastered this new memory skill - that of telling the exact day of the week that would fall on a particular date in the Gregorian calendar for over 3000 years. He can begin to mention the probable day in the Gregorian calendar which started in 1582 not up to the present millennium but up to 4582 and beyond - up to 6000 or even 8000 millennium. 

The key for the type of numerical memorisation lies in having a very keen ear for sounds. “It is the sounds that I try to store, or rather ‘save’ in my mind, whenever I want to remember a particular number. Doing that of course, calls for some inventiveness. I instinctively convert the number to be retained in my mind into a word or a sentence, going by the number of digits that number actually mothing that word or sentence, which I have fashioned,” discloses Vinayak.   

Vinayak’s fascination for sounds actually began in his childhood when he first heard the clatters produced while a telegram - via a telegraph machine - was being transmitted in the post office at Diu where his father was officiating as the chief. That was just a couple of years before the end of the Portuguese regime in Goa, Daman and Diu. “My enchantment with telegraphy was such that I insisted on learning it from my father, who was exceptionally good at it. Not only was I able to learn it at the age of barely seven, but I even managed to acquire a great deal of proficiency in it,” he recalls.   

Thereafter, convinced about his telegraphic aptitude, Vinayak’s father would often ask him to transmit telegraphs from Diu to Delwada, since the two officiating telegraphers in the post office he was heading were found utterly wanting. Imagine someone doing this at the age of seven!   

For Vinayak, memorising sounds began at an early age and continued throughout his youth and adulthood. “If I can do it, all of you can do it. It’s not difficult, if only one respects and trusts his memory,” he explains. Vinayak briefs on the immense possibilities that today’s kids can develop if simply allowed to explore their memorising skills and not making them rely on digital gazettes. “But we are making them robots and that’s sad. Let them use their brains and mind power.   

“Sometimes there is recall lapse. Why should one be impatient to remember that particular thing at that moment? We should give time to our mind to think and recollect. I don’t rest until I recall that which I have forgotten. It’s there always, only pushed behind in the memory. One has to relax. Then suddenly it would flash out. This is my experience. The other day I wanted to recollect the name of one of my school buddies whose image was clear in my mind but name had been wiped off. I let it settle down. It went into the recycle bin for some time but not out of my system. Then suddenly I remembered his name - oh, he was Bakshi. One should never give up. Give some rest to your memory. Trust me, it will never ditch you,” states Vinayak who opens up the secret of the day, dates and years record of three millennium calendars in his brain. “I just add leap years (which are divisible by four) constantly. Every four centuries there is a leap year. Certain centuries (eg, 1700, 1800 and 1900) didn’t have it, but 1600 and 2000 had. Then each year and month has a character. Remember that. Once the mathematics is done, you need just few seconds to arrive to the day of the week after feeding in the millennium, year, month and date. It’s that simple!” exclaims Vinayak who has a suggestion to the parents and teachers - not to send their kids to pre-schools and hamper their natural progress. “Instead give them freehand to ask questions and explore! Every child has a potential to be a genius, so allow your kids to bloom and blossom naturally, and this world would be full of geniuses.”