Shakuntala Devi reading South Asia Times in Delhi, 2009.Photo: Rajeev Sharma
By Neeraj Nanda
MELBOURNE, 6 August 2020: With the release of ‘Shakuntala Devi’ on Amazon Prime streaming service, and Vidya Balan playing the role of this famous mathematical wonder, the media is full of stories about the real Shanktula Devi and her life.
Interestingly, South Asia Times correspondent in New Delhi, Rajeev Sharma met her during a media meet at the Siddarth Hotel, Rajindra Nagar in January 2009. Rajeev found this picture (see above) by chance in his email and sent it to me in Melbourne today. In fact, he reveals, she announced there about her plan to visit Sydney and will reach there on 6 February 2009.
During the press meet, she announced her plan to establish “Shakuntala Devi Educational Foundation Public Trust” in South India’s cyber city Bangalore. The trust was to be established with the objective of imparting education and knowledge to the society in general and the underprivileged children in particular. It is not known if the trust was set up or it still exists.