I had to take special permissions from court

LatestChess:- When did you / your family discovered your prowess and how?
Tathagat Avatar Tulsi:- When I was 3 years old. there were several incidents when they identified my talent. They found that I have a gifted mathematical ability. In those days, I used to do all the maths without using calculator. I used to do multiplication/division/sum etc. in my mind as I wanted to save calculator's battery:)).

surprising thing was that I was able to multiply even large numbers and that also very fast. Those were the days when my family discovered my talent and started bringing it to the attention of society through newspapers.

I never discovered my talent as I was so used to it:)

I was able to multiply large numbers without calculator with great speed

LatestChess:- Have you firmed up any plans to develop particular skills and to use the same for the benefit of the country? If yes, in what way and in which field?
Tathagat Avatar Tulsi:- well, there are so many mental skills to develop and certainly each skill helps you in getting an outstanding position in the society. I will continue to develop and sharpen those skills further and further. But I want to focus more on my research (innovative skills) as I believe that ultimately innovation is the only thing that can change the world. I believe that I have the innovative skills and I believe that my future innovations will certainly be important enough to change the world dramatically.

Innovation is the only thing that can change the world

At the same time, I want to promote the innovativeness spirit among the common people, particularly youngsters. I want them to think about the problems being faced by human civilization at present and to come up with innovative solutions so that we can make this world a more better place to live in. I believe that the traditional education system promotes collection, rather than creation of knowledge. I want to introduce new ingredients in the system so that our youngsters enjoy the process of meaningful knowledge creation and contribute their part to this holy goal.

Traditional education system promotes collection, rather than creation of knowledge

A very important skill is Leadership skill which is more governed by heart rather than brain as it requires connecting to common people. I am very much inspired by the Prof. Kalam's concept of "creative leadership" and I want to promote the "effective leadership" among the youngsters of nation so that we can work together for a better society in future.

As is obvious, I have so many things to do:) but I will do it as it will be for social progress.

I want to promote the "effective leadership" among the youngsters

LatestChess:- Do you play chess? Do you think learning chess can help students concentrate, teach them good sportsmanship, plus help develop math and planning skills?
Tathagat Avatar Tulsi:- I used to play chess but nowadays I do not get much time for the game. Yes, chess helps students to concentrate and to be a good human being (you do not need to be a sportsman for learning "sportsmanship":)). I doubt whether there is any connection between maths and chess, I believe that the only way to develop maths is by doing maths. In fact, I have done both activities: maths and chess together and according to me, there is not much connection. Maths is itself an art which can be mastered only through practice. At the same time, I believe that everyone should atleast have a "taste" of this art as it allows you to analytically enjoy the beauty of nature.

I doubt whether there is any connection between maths and chess

One of my future plans is to teach maths in a different way (not in a traditional school way) to common people, particularly students. I believe that it will help them to lead life in a more better way and it will help them to "quantitatively" realize themselves. It will certainly add to developing other important mental faculties and ultimately the student will become an important resource for the society.

Maths will help to lead life in a more better way

LatestChess:- Russian's have added chess as a subject in the Schools; do you think Chess can be used as a powerful educational tool?
Tathagat Avatar Tulsi:- Certainly but at the same time, chess may take a significant time out of students' schedule. But yes, it helps significantly in improving concentration which is crucial for doing good in any activity including studies. Chess helps significantly in brain training, Its like a brain gym. I can say that my "brilliant" brain is partly due to my chess-playing. Its a different thing that I was more interested in maths, sciences than chess.

Chess helps significantly in brain training

LatestChess:- Recently you attended a special programme of the National Geographic channel "My Brilliant Brain", according to the program, any ordinary child could be turned into a genius, what are your views?
Tathagat Avatar Tulsi:- I used to believe the same way earlier and I will be very glad if this theory is 100 percent correct. But over the years, I have realized that probably genetics has a role to play here. In my opinion, you can achieve your best by hard work and careful training but probably, the best of a person depends upon genetics. Here, by genetics, I refer to the neural networking and physical traits of brain which completely depends upon genes. We have seen that genetics play a role everywhere be it beauty, physical traits etc. So, probably we should accept the role of genes even for the brain. It sets an upper limit on what you can achieve through hard work.

you can achieve your best by hard work and careful training but...

Its like that there are several players devoting their significant time and undergoing special training for chess mastery but ultimately a person stops at a particular rating and finds it difficult to surpass that rating. In my opinion, you can improve your ratings through practice but the upper limit on ratings depend upon genes. Since you dont know whats in your genes or whats your upper limit, its always better to try and to do hard work. may be, you are lucky enough to get a rating of 3000:)

you can improve your ratings through practice but the upper limit on ratings depend upon genes

Still, as I said earlier, I will be more than glad if my assumption can be proved wrong:) but I doubt so. Seriously, genetics do play a significant role in almost everything. Brain is a plastic material but the plasticity depends upon person to person.

genetics do play a significant role in almost everything