He came to CFRCE in his 9^th grade. At school he had been bored to the point of losing interest in his studies and had taken to the game of football to escape from the dulness that he feared would overtake him. Somehow there was only one thing that appeared to be keeping him sane. And that was his deep interest and passion for physics. Right from his school days, Akshy had been attracted to science especially physics as he quite early on learned to make the distinction from chemistry and biology.

Physics fascinated him to the point of driving him to explore whatever books he could lay his hands on. Fortunately, the internet was buzzing with videos from the increasingly famous Khan Academy. The student eagerly immersed himself in watching the videos on physics. By and by he began to hear a particular term that captivated him even more, Theoretical Physics.

Theoretical Physics rather than just physics seemed to be an irresistible topic. But the Khan Academy had not much to say about it. The several books he discovered on the internet were inaccessible given his background in physics even that he had absorbed from the Khan Academy videos. This put the student into another round of distraction. For quite some time his mother had been observing the changes he was going through right from his frustration at school and his involvement in the Khan Academy videos. She had hoped he had found a channel of outlet for his disappointment at school.

But now she had cause for alarm once again. She noticed her son restless and at the same time longing to know about what he had began to articulate as -theoretical physics. She had not the faintest idea what resources to provide him with. Obviously, neither the school nor any of the coaching centres all around had anything to say about theoretical physics. It was at that time that she came across a possible solution to her son’s problem.

One of her friends was visiting their home. The friend’s son had been through a difficult time at school and then had somehow began to improve rapidly and rose high up the academic ladder. Talking to her friend, Mrs. Vasanta came to know that her son had improved so much by going to a place known as CFRCE. There, he had been guided to focus more on his interests and passion rather than on the school syllabus. By doing so, in a short period of time, he had gained sufficient motivation to take interest even in his studies at school that he had found so dull earlier. Consequently, he had began to work on his topics at school and conquered his difficulties.

The friend told Mrs. Vasanta, “actually, at CFRCE, there are students pursuing diverse subjects of their interest ranging from Astronomy and Astrophysics to Mathematics and Theoretical Physics.” Mrs. Vasanta had been listening to her friend in quite a casual manner. But suddenly her attention heightened. She stopped her friend and asked, “What? What is it that you just said?” “Oh, I said that at CFRCE, there are students pursuing diverse subjects of their interest.” “And then…you said something more…could you please repeat exactly what you said…all that you said…”

Somewhat surprised, Mrs. Vasanta’s friend replied, “well…let me recall…I think I said, actually, at CFRCE, there are students pursuing diverse subjects of their interest ranging from Astronomy and Astrophysics to Mathematics and Theoretical Physics.” “Theoretical Physics,” Mrs. Vasanta and Akshy uttered almost simultaneously. Akshay had come up to them, his eyes glowing with excitement. “Theoretical Physics! Do students pursue that there?” Mrs. Vasanta asked noticing the sudden eagerness Akshy was having. “Yes, Theoretical Physics…I think they do only theory there and that is why they call it theoretical…” 

“Oh…is that all…” Akshy sounded disappointed. Obviously, the term “theoretical” could have been used in an innocent manner just to indicate a lack of experiments…

“Akshy,” Mrs. Vasanta said, “let’s go and find out.”

That was how Akshy and his mother happened to come to CFRCE. And fortunate that Akshy was, the term “theoretical,” had not been used in an innocent manner at CFRCE. It was used in the precise technical sense of the term to mean “Theoretical Physics,” as the domain and field it really was.

Akshy was very soon enrolled at CFRCE and in just two months had not only completed all the basics of general physics and mathematics but had been put to learn from the famous 10-volume Landau and Lifshitz Course of Theoretical Physics that even graduate students considered formidable. In just a month he completed the first volume, in the next  two and a half months he completed the second volume, in the next two months he completed the third volume and then immediately after that took on General Relativity and Differential Geometry.

In just a year after he had enrolled at CFRCE, he was invited at a premier research institute in India to give a talk on his studies on “The Problem of Time in Quantum Gravity.” In hardly a year after that, he was corresponding with the topmost experts in the world in Quantum Gravity. The very next month after that he was invited as a speaker to the International Conference LOOPS 13.

By the time he completed his 12^th grade, he had been given the unique opportunity of skipping his Bachelors and Masters degrees altogether and joining the Ph. D program directly at the famous Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics, Canada. Exactly four years after completing his 12^th grade, Akshy would be compelling his Ph. D in Theoretical Physics, Loop Quantum Gravity.

Akshy’s prodigious learning has the touch of the miraculous. Yet, his classmate and friend Yash, also accomplished a similar feat in the field of Pure Mathematics. Another student in Business Entrepreneurship and yet another, in Robotics…another in medical science. At CFRCE these achievements appear natural and spontaneous. This calls for a deep question. “How are such feats of learning possible? Are these students “gifted,” with rare talent and genius?”

 The question of course begs for the answer and is in itself ill-posed. For, whether the students are gifted with talent or genius is more a matter of effect than cause. For, granted these students were so gifted. What if they did not get to develop and exhibit their talent and genius? They would obviously be considered ordinary. And once they have exhibited it…well…one could always ascribe it to several causes none of which having uniqueness to base further cases upon. Year after year at CFRCE, this has been the norm.

And so after around two decades of experience in mentoring such students the only sensible explanation is that learning like language, is an instinct or more precisely what we call a neuro-cognitive potential. Yes, just as Steven Pinker declares language to be an instinct, in his famous book, “The Language Instinct,” it is safe to say that “Learning is a neuro-cognitive potential,” that awakens and develops by spontaneous self-organization once the conditions are favourable.