4-year-old can identify flags and names of 225 countries \ Published: September 22, 2007, 22:54 \ Dubai: A 4 year-old Indian whiz kid has successfully memorised the names of more than 225 countries' flags in 11 days with his parents' assistance in Sharjah. \ The outstandingly smart boy, Aazer Hussain, whose parents are planning to enrol him in kindergarten next year, has the ability to identify the names of more than 225 countries from their flag colours. He can also easily fish out the flag if someone asks him to do so by naming the country. \ \ \ \ \ \ \ Aazer's father, 40-year-old Hussain Sayed Nabeel, from Bangalore, told Gulf News: "I am very astonished by my son's intelligence who is not yet in school or kindergarten. It all happened about two weeks ago when we were in a supermarket and we purchased a big poster of flags. My wife and I taught Aazer to identify the names of each country from its flag. He enchanted us with his incredible capability to memorise the flags and names." \ "It all happened in 11 days!" exclaimed Aazer's 28-year-old mother, Nazneen Bano, who comes from Bhopal in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. \ Witnessed \ Gulf News examined the boy's capability to verify his father's claim during the family's visit to its main offices. The three-year-and three-month-old identified the flags of New Zealand, Armenia, Belize, Qatar, UAE, Liberia, Republic of Central Africa, Japan, Bahrain, Belgium, Seychelles, Lebanon, Finland, Australia and New Guinea Brazil and tens others. \ The toddler also named other countries of which he pointed out the flags and those countries included Uganda, UAE, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kuwait, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Iran, Libya and others. \ After recognising the name or flag of each country, Aazer claps as soon as his father tells him "bingo! you got the right answer" in Hindi. \ Hussain and Nazneen signed an online agreement regarding a record attempt and sent it to the Guinness World Record (GWR). \ Hussain, a civil engineer based in the UAE, said his son could also identify tens of brands of cars besides writing the letters of the alphabet in English in capital and small letters. \ "I want people to understand and appreciate whiz kids," said Hussain. \ \ \ \ Worldly wiseWhen I heard about 4-and-a-half year old Aazer Husain, who is able to identify all the countries of the world with ease - I was curious. His father, Husain Sayed, says it all started when they took him to the supermarket earlier this year and pointed out different flags to him. Although Aazer Husain knows the English alphabet, he does not know how to read and has not yet started school. Yet, he can look at any flag and name the country … just like that. The next day, his parents found out that he had memorised more than 25 flags and within 11 days he knew about 176 of them. The parents were quite astonished to say the least. After consulting a few specialists, it was concluded he had a photographic memory and a high IQ for his age; so much so that they applied to the Guinness Book of Records. The organisers said they had never seen anything like it, Sayed says. At present, Aazer can identify 225 flags. He can even tell when the flags are turned upside down and spot even the tiniest difference.Doctors have advised his parents not to pressurise him and instead help him remain self-motivated. The little boy is allowed to watch a few cartoons but the family prefers to involve him in more stimulating activities. Aazer also likes to look at the stars but his parents will just have to wait to see where his talents lead him naturally. \ \ BOY WONDER \ \ \ Just over three, Aazer Hussain possesses what experts believe is a unique gift found in only five per cent of children with photographic or flash memory – eidetic memory. Such is his amazing grasp of things, places and numbers that he could easily be a… \ THE BOY sits on a sofa, in a small living room with framed pictures of flowers on the wall, a large TV set and a PC in one corner. A coloured 1-to-100 numbers chart is stuck to the wall next to the door. It’s a typical middle-class home in Muwaile, Sharjah. \ In front of the sofa on a glass-topped table are scattered tiny postage-stamp sized flags of about 200 countries. As the flags are picked up randomly and shown to the boy one by one, he shouts the name of each country to which it belongs: Estonia, Argentina, Canada, Gabon, Zambia, Mozambique, Chile, Sri Lanka, Malta, Cambodia, Bolivia, Kyrgyzstan, Antigua & Barbuda, Sudan, Hungary, St Kitts, Trinidad & Tobago, Philippines, Bangladesh…. and on and on and on. \ At the last count, the boy has learnt to recognise the flags of 194 countries, in just 10 to 12 days, repeated to him by his parents – just once or twice. And the boy, Aazer Husain is not even three and half years old, has not even started nursery or learnt to talk fully. He is so small he cannot even pronounce the names of some of the countries properly. He calls Turkey 'Toorky', Kenya 'Kiniya', Equatorial Guinea, 'Equito Ginee,' North Korea 'North Kolia', Cyprus 'Ciprus'. Malaysia 'Malasi', Dominican Republic 'Domini Republic'. \ Changing the tactic, he was then asked to find the flag of Russia, from among the nearly 200 strewn on the table. And as he couldn’t get it immediately, the boy became restless and wouldn’t stop until he found it, all the while muttering to himself, ‘It’s red, blue, white…it’s red, blue, white.” When he finally picked it up, the flag indeed bore the colours: red, blue and white. \ A gifted child, Aazer may be in possession of what is called eidetic memory – a phenomenon found in about 5 percent of children who are born with photographic or flash memory. Aazer’s memory is so acute that if a flag is held upside down, he shouts, “Ulta pakada hai” (you’re holding it upside down). \ ‘It was amazing,” said the boy’s father Husain Syed Nabee, 40, a civil engineer who works for a maintenance firm in Dubai. “We were showing him the flags and telling him the names of the countries and he’d remember them, while we ourselves can’t recall more five or six.” Husain said Aazer’s only requirement is, after a couple of his correct answers, everybody should clap, and he himself joins in the clapping, shouting triumphantly, ‘Heyyyyy… \ The boy recognised the flags of 194 countries, naming each and every one correctly to this reporter. When asked how he remembers the flags, Aazer suddenly became shy, pouted his lips, buried his head in his father’s arm and said, “Smile…why don’t you smile…” \ Husain and his wife, Nazneen Bano discovered their son’s unusual gift during the last fortnight by accident. “Last month after the schools opened we went to a supermarket and saw all these school books, stationary and different charts for children,” said Husain, who hails from Bangalore and has been in the UAE for the past ten years. “We thought we’d teach him something to keep him occupied. So we bought a 1-to-100 numbers chart and about 3 dozens of flags of different countries.” \ Aazer mastered...