What he does
The profile, published on 13 January 2017 under The Better India's guest series, describes a narrow and repeatable set of abilities. He performs addition and multiplication of large numbers within seconds and without any aid. He identifies the weekday for any date in a two-century window, from 1900 to 2100.
There is more to the range than arithmetic. He recognises currency notes by touch, and he reproduces cricket commentary in Hindi and English from matches he has heard. The nickname that follows him, in the article's phrasing, is the Walking Computer. Taken together the four skills describe one underlying facility rather than four: a memory that holds long, ordered sequences and returns them on demand.
How it began
The profile dates the interest to the age of eight, when he discovered mathematics. It does not describe a teacher, a method or a training programme, and it names no examination or contest he has entered. For a calculator who works without sight, the absence of any account of method is the most significant omission in the piece, because sight is how most mental arithmetic is taught.
His stated model is Shakuntala Devi, the Indian mental calculator whose public demonstrations made the field familiar to a general audience in the twentieth century. Music is listed as a hobby alongside the calculation.
Television, and what came with it
Kannada broadcasting gave him a platform before the national press did. He was interviewed on television by Malavika Avinash and by Shivraj Kumar, and he appeared in short segments on several Kannada news channels.
The article reports local, state and national awards without naming them, and says that political figures who saw him offered financial support. Neither the awards nor the offers are itemised, which is a weakness in the account rather than in the achievement.
What he wanted to do with it
By 2017 he was a B.Ed student at Athani, in the Belgaum district, working towards a teaching qualification. The ambition recorded in the profile is to teach and, in its words, to travel around the country and fill people with hope and positivity.
He is described as wanting to create opportunities for others with disabilities rather than to attract sympathy. That framing comes from the article, and it is the closest the piece gets to a statement of purpose from him.
What is documented — and what is not
Firm: his age and home district, his blindness from birth, the calculation and calendar abilities as described, the television appearances and the interviewers' names, his B.Ed studies at Athani and his stated ambition to teach.
Not documented: any timed or witnessed test, any score, the names of the awards, the size of any support offered, and anything published after January 2017. The source is a guest post carried by The Better India rather than staff reporting, and it stands alone in the record gathered here. Calendar calculation in particular can be done by arithmetic rule as well as by recall, and nothing in the profile settles which is happening.
Watch: Basavaraj Umrani on camera
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basavaraj Umrani | India | Mental calculation and calendar dating while blind from birth | Age 8 |
| Stiaan Scheepers | South Africa | Junior Mental Calculation World Championship medals | — |
| Mishti Dharmesh Shah | India | Mental Calculation World Cup 2024 | — |
| Hua Wei Chan | Canada | Finishing second at the 2012 Mental Calculation World Cup | — |
| Naofumi Ogasawara | Japan | Winning the 2012 Mental Calculation World Cup | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Blind from birth; performs large-number addition and multiplication in seconds without aids (The Better India, 13 January 2017)
- Names the weekday for any date between 1900 and 2100
- B.Ed student at Athani, Belgaum district, in 2017; interviewed on Kannada television by Malavika Avinash and Shivraj Kumar
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No timed test, score or independent adjudication of any feat
- The awards mentioned are not named, dated or itemised
- The source is a guest post rather than staff reporting, and it stands alone
- No information published since January 2017
Questions people ask about Basavaraj Umrani
Who is Basavaraj Umrani?
A mental calculator from Belgaum in Karnataka, blind from birth, profiled by The Better India in January 2017.
What can he calculate?
He adds and multiplies large numbers within seconds without aids, and names the weekday for any date between 1900 and 2100.
How old is he?
He was twenty-two when the profile appeared in January 2017. No source publishes his date of birth.
Has his ability been tested?
No timed or witnessed test appears in this record. The profile describes the feats but reports no measurement.
Which television shows featured him?
He was interviewed by Malavika Avinash and Shivraj Kumar, and appeared in short segments on several Kannada news channels.
What did he want to do?
Teach. In 2017 he was studying for a B.Ed at Athani in the Belgaum district.
Is Basavaraj Umrani on Wikipedia?
No Wikipedia article was found for him. The only source used here is a guest post published by The Better India.
Where is Basavaraj Umrani now?
No source states this. Nothing after January 2017 appears in the record gathered here.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Basavaraj’s story?
Across which years can Basavaraj Umrani name the weekday for any date?
What was he studying in 2017?
Which calculator does he name as his role model?
Sources
- TBI Blogs: Meet Basavaraj Umrani, the Visually-Impaired Human Computer from Belgaum — The Better India, 2017-01-13
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
Discover More Child Prodigies
50+ stories of contemporary young geniuses changing chess, music, science, and art.
Explore All Prodigies →Related Child Prodigy Profiles
Stiaan Scheepers🇿🇦 South Africa — The South African who kept coming back to Bielefeld with…
Mishti Dharmesh Shah🇮🇳 India — Two second places in Paderborn…
Chirag Rathi🇮🇳 India — A construction labourer's son in Saharanpur…
Hua Wei Chan🇨🇦 Canada — He can multiply two three-digit numbers in his head…
Naofumi Ogasawara🇯🇵 Japan — A Japanese abacus teacher beat 31 rivals in Giessen and…
Tomohiro Iseda🇯🇵 Japan — Eight-digit multiplications and six-digit square roots…
