HYDERABAD: He learnt the English alphabet by the time he was 18 months, and could comfortably read a story book 10 months later. At an age when most children would be trying to figure out the world, this boy was solving a 68 piece world map puzzle.Arnav Dasyam is perhaps the youngest kid of Indian/South Asian descent to join the Mensa Club. Mensa is an international society for bright people, and the only qualification for becoming its member is possessing a high IQ.According to the website of Mensa International there are about 1.1 lakh Mensans in more than 40 countries on every continent except Antarctica. There are 2 to 100-year-old Mensans, but most are in the age group of 20 to 60.Arnav is the son of Anil and Navya Dasyam, a Telugu couple and residents of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, US. He became a member of the Mensa club at the age of 3 years and 2 months. Candidates for Mensa must achieve a score at or above the 98th percentile on a standard test of intelligence (a score that is greater than that of 98% of the general population).Mensa also accepts tests conducted by certified personnel. "When Arnav was 2 years and 10 months old, we had him tested by a certified school psychologist on October 23, 2012. Arnav was found to have an overall IQ of 132," Anil said over phone from the US.Anil received Arnav's IQ score in the second week of January, 2013 and submitted it to Mensa International a week later. "We got the acceptance letter in the first week of February, 2013. Arnav's age then was 3 years and 2 months," said Anil."It was in the late summer/early fall of 2012 when I saw some news reports of young children in the age group 3-4 years getting into Mensa. A common theme in them was that the kids could read early. Since Arnav could read sentences even before turning 2 and half years, we felt he was special and could take a shot at Mensa. We then started exposing Arnav to things that other Mensa kids were doing and he was easily grasping everything," Anil said.Anil did his MBBS from Hyderabad and moved to the US a decade back. His wife Navya too is a doctor and apart from Arnav, the couple have a 9-month-old son Nirmay. About Arnav's future, Anil said, "We have no fixed professions. We will ensure that he works hard to achieve what he wants to become," he said.