The square gift

In a video up on YouTube posted by the Indian Cube Association (ICA), Rachhit Kalra, 3, sits on a table, his legs crossed, fiddling with a Rubik's Cube, sometimes too distracted to even look at the puzzle while solving it. Oscillating from intense moments of focus to giggles, he works relentlessly to solve the colour-coded puzzle, sometimes, taking a break to scratch his armpit. It's evident that it's difficult for bystanders and members of the association to keep a straight face.

The Rubik's Cube is a 3-D combination puzzle that was invented in 1974 by Erno Rubik, a sculptor from Hungary. According to a 2020 report, close to 450 million Rubik's Cubes had been sold globally since.

Kalra was anointed by the ICA as the youngest Cuber of India last month. He is part of just 5.8 per cent of the world's population that can solve the Rubik's Cube. In Cubed: The Puzzle of Us All, Erno Rubika said that the game compelled players to start solving it over again once they have completed it. Kalra knows that feeling.

When he arrives in the mid-day newsroom with his mother Prerna Sood Kalra, she speaks of his scant interest in gymnastics, an extra-curricular activity she had hoped he'd take a shine to. "Then, one day, I gave him the Rubik's Cube and he loved it. I haven't been able to separate him from it." Kalra solves three kinds of cubes: 3x3x3, 2x2 and the Pyraminx, for which he began training in January this year. In barely a month, he was ready to participate in the national-level competition and achieved the record of solving all three cubes in the first attempt, making him only the second child to do so. The first, Shanay, managed the feat at three years and six months, making him two months older to Kalra, who has also successfully participated in a Guinness Book of Records event for the largest number of people solving the 3x3x3 cube on a virtual platform.

Bouncing on a table where mid-day journalists are punching out their article for the day, he wishes everyone with a confident, hi! He is a bundle of energy, which begets the question, how does he manage to focus and solve? "The experts have said that the cube is in fact helping him focus his immense energy on one source," says Prerna, who while teaching him phonics, observed that he had a remarkable memory. "I started teaching him phonics when he was two and he was quick to grasp. I did some reading up on how I could help him grow intellectually, and came across Mental maths and the Rubik's Cube. It claimed to improve a child's concentration and develop both, the right and left hemispheres of the brain," Prerna remembers. His teacher and trainer Poonam Vadhavan recognised his potential while teaching him Mental maths, which is defined as skills that allow people to do arithmetical calculations "in their head" without the use of calculators or other resources. As a part of the programme, she introduced Kalra to the Rubik's Cube. Observing his surprising progress, they decided to train him for the national-level competition. Mother and son made the journey from Mumbai to Delhi and put up with Vadhavan for hands-on training. "Poonam is a cuber herself as are her children. I also solve the puzzle but when it gets tough, I set it aside. Competitive gamers don't. I was very tense before the competition, but Rachhit was carefree, singing and giggling while solving. It was quite a moment to see him delighted at receiving the trophy," Prerna says about the gold cup that sits beside Kalra on the table at our office, almost as high as him.

The toddler is the twelfth child from the country to add his name to the young cubers list. He even managed to beat his own personal best when he solved the cube in four minutes and 33 seconds instead of the last five minutes and 23 seconds at the national competition.

When asked which of the cubes is his favourite, he yelps, holding up a 3x3x3 cube, with which he started his adventures. When Kalra is not playing with cubes, Prerna says he watches the Avengers movies while trying to learn the names of the villains. Despite spending a major portion of his life locked indoors during the pandemic, he is social, enjoys meeting new people, and is happy to break into a song on demand.

There is one more puzzle he likes to solve: a big sponge map of India that he pieces together. "His other new-found love is to identify flags of different countries. He has managed to accurately name 70 so far," Prerna says. "I was keen on exposing him to other cubes like the 4x4, 5x5 or the mirror cube. But when the CEO of ICA, Eusebius Noronha, watched his performance at the competition, he suggested that we train him for Speedcubing because an international competition is scheduled in eight months in Brazil. Rachhit will be busy until then to gear up
for that win."

What it helps kids with

Problem solving
Observational skills
Speed
and agility
Configuration
Focus
Quick reflexes
Avoid boredom