HV Tagore Bharadwaj was naughty, so his parents made him ‘civil’

HV Tagore Bharadwaj is just five and should have been happy flawlessly reciting nursery rhymes like other kids his age.

And he may have been, too, was it not for his parents —mother Hamsaveni and father N Vasanth, an adviser with SBI life insurance wing—who wanted Tagore to recite the Code of Civil Procedure (1908), of all things, effortlessly. And they started training him when he was just 18 months old.

Mind you, Tagore today can recite it, but does not understand the complicated clauses that confuse even experienced civil lawyers. Obviously, the proud parents have gone through the roof with the ‘achievements’ of their child prodigy of a son.

But city-based psychiatrist Palak Shah has warned that such pressure even on a child with above average capabilities—as Tagore has been certified by experts from National Institute of Mental Health And Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS)—could lead to him suffering a ‘burn-out syndrome’ and drive the child into a shell in future.

But why did the parents do that?

“Tagore was a very naughty boy and it was difficult for us to keep him quiet. So my wife started teaching him capitals of countries when he was one-and-a-half-year-old. Within one month, he started reciting 30 countries and its capital within 4 minutes,” says Vasanth.

The next was the Code of Civil Procedures.

But on Wednesday at the Press Club, where they brought Tagore to demonstrate his prowess to the media, it was difficult to miss the child in him as he kept going after a mango drink despite his parents insisting that he continue with his recitation for the media.

The proud parents do have a child prodigy on their hands – something they wanted. But how costly that could be; only time will tell!