The Intern Diaries: India's Beautiful Minds

Dateline producer Calliste Weitenberg discusses the inspiring young girls she met on a recent reporting trip to India, with intern Osher Fielder.

Dateline reporter Calliste Weitenberg with locals while reporting in India. Source: SBS Dateline

Dateline producer Calliste Weitenberg went to India late last year to meet two young girls from slums on the outskirts of New Delhi, who have been recognised as having the IQ of geniuses.

Under a new program, sponsored by Mensa International, they are being given the opportunity of an elite education, usually only available to privileged children.

However, these girls face pressures at home that other children at their school do not - and understand that their families rely on them for day-to-day living. They are not given the freedom more wealthy children are to focus fully on their study.

“Many people in the western world would imagine genius children given all these tools to become brilliant, but that doesn’t exist for these girls," Calliste tells Dateline intern Osher Fielder, in this episode of The Intern Diaries.

"They have to overcome all these traditional expectations to become these geniuses, or even realize their potential. There's a whole other aspect to it that we explore in this film.”

Click Here to watch the full episode: India's Beautiful Minds