When we speak to Jacob Samuel over the phone lines from Chennai, he sounds like any other 11-year-old. "I love cycling and football," he says, adding quickly, "Music is God’s gift to me." We’ll believe. After all, his father tells us that when Jacob was barely two years old, he showed interest in observing him when playing the keyboard, and began to play music on his own, which was unusual for a young child.

Pianist Jacob Samuel loves his Beethoven as much as his football