Child prodigy sets record in recognising car logos

JOHOR BARU: When he was three, he knew the different national flowers of many countries.

And now at six, L. Raguram can identify the logo of almost any car around the world.

The boy just won himself a spot in the Malaysia Book of Records by identifying 190 car logos within five minutes.

His mother, dentist Dr P. Ranganayaki Devi, 34, said her son has liked cars since he was four.

“He can identify more than 200 car logos, but in this competition, he managed to do 190 within the period,” she said, adding that her son loved electric car maker Tesla and one day hoped to meet with its CEO, Elon Musk.

She said her son hopes to be a car scientist when he grows up and develop environmentally-friendly cars, adding that Raguram’s interest in cars is partly due to his engineer father, L. Letchumanan, 37, who is also obsessed with cars.

She said that when they celebrated Raguram’s first birthday, a friend brought him a small toy car and he has kept it ever since.

“When he was four, we noticed he could recognise vehicle logos and describe their features,” she said, adding they had already known he had a good memory as he could recognise many different national flowers of when he was barely three.

Her mother M. Pushpa, 57, a teacher, had taken the time to teach him about the flowers.

Raguram, who attends a private international school, can also converse in Mandarin and recognises many insects and animals.

“We are very proud of our son’s achievement in landing a spot in the Malaysia Book of Records,” said Dr Ranganayaki, who also has a one-year-old daughter.

“He enjoys watching videos of robots and shows about game reviews instead of just watching cartoons,” she said, adding that Raguram was an inquisitive boy who likes asking many questions.