Mr. World

My Journey by Dr. Ngangbam Shantikumar Meetei #BookReview #AmReading #FindingTheVoices

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My Journey by Dr. Ngangbam Shantikumar Meetei

A book review by Monica Ingudam

Book Title: My Journey

Author: Dr. Ngangbam Shantikumar Meetei

Publisher: International Meeteis Forum, Yaiskul, Moirangthem, Imphal West, Manipur 795001

 

My Journey is the autobiography of Dr. Ngangbam Shantikumar Meetei, Mr World 2013 in bodybuilding INBA, born in Manipur and presently teaching as an English Professor at Taiwan. This book captures his journey of his life starting from Manipur to Delhi and his migration to Taiwan.

Dr. Ngangbam Shantikumar Meetei, author of the book “My Journey”

Mr.Ngangbam Shantikumar Meetei had mentioned about his book when I took his interview during Season 1 of FindingTheVoices and I really wanted to read it. I contacted International Meeteis Forum to get a copy of this book during one of my previous trip in Imphal, Manipur. And to my surprise, I received a complimentary copy from Mr. A. Anilkumar, advisor of IMF and I bought another copy.

This book was lying in my ever increasing “To Read” pile and finally last week I picked it up. I started reading it and I just couldn’t stop turning the pages.

Reading the first 3 chapters which covers his childhood and growing up, I felt such love and remembrance for his mother. He wrote in simple English with a good story telling flow and I could feel the little boy’s voice as the book progressed. So much hunger and poverty for a young little boy filled with dreams bringing tears as I read. No one should be as hungry as he had experienced.

He has touched upon many aspects of life and articulated his dreams, love, adventure, poverty, education, family relations and racism very well. And in his narration, I could feel the honesty where he balanced and mentioned both his low and high points of his journey. I love the photographs added in the book that aided the narration very well. It’s interesting to read the chapter covering about meeting his wife and his thoughts on love at first sight versus learning to love. He shared his comparison of infrastructure and system of Manipur and Taiwan. He shared about the intense support system amongst family members, and also shared about the complexities, fall out and family dynamics of relationship amongst family members after marriage.

The book could use some editing in correcting some of the spelling mistakes. I don’t think it’s fair to generalize as a culture that wives in Manipur control the money matters of the family (page 97). Also I differ to agree on his opinion on classifying individuals opting trends of same-sex, no marriage, no children to be individuals who don’t care much about society or the future (page 288).

To me, this book is about love and attachment to your mother and motherland, chasing your dream, being adventurous, having an open mind to face life and never giving up. This book is also about hard work, struggles, pains, frustrations, disappointments before tasting success and winning.

I would definitely recommend you to read this book to both Manipuri and Non Manipuri readers.

Non Manipuri readers will get a glimpse on the background, adjustments and homesickness the students and people coming out of Manipur go through, staying in other parts of India, their fears and insecurity giving you a different perspective on how some of the words and incidents however trivial it may sound gets into the psyche of a person.

 

 

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Book reviews by Monica Ingudam

Born in Manipur (India), based in Maryland (USA) patent holder for identifying Caller ID, with Computer Science Engineering background, you will find Monica Ingudam crunching numbers and data as an Analyst.  During the weekends you will find her hosting FindingTheVoices talk-show featuring authors, artists and people who inspire, empower, educate and entertain with the vision to connect and spread positivity. You will find her reading, writing and painting in her quiet time.

 

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S02E34 FindingTheVoices: Mr. Arambam Boby (4 times Mr. World, 12 times Mr. India) speaks out – Part 2

/ Monica Ingudam / Leave a comment
FindingTheVoices: Mr. Arambam Boby, 4 times Mr. World, 12 times Mr. India, a bodybuilder from Manipur speaks out (Part 2)
Guest Speaker : Mr. Arambam Boby
A Phone Interview, with Arambam Boby joining in from Guwahati, India.
Language: Interview in Meiteilon

Mr. Arambam Boby, bodybuilder from Manipur speaks out and shares his story with FindingTheVoices. He is 4 times Mr. World, 12 times Mr. India and has bagged many other titles.

And yet Findingthevoices is the first to interview him. Another reason of why we are here, we believe in the power of Internet, Youtube and sharing by the public covering voices which the media haven’t found.

Mr. Arambam Boby laments that when the state government of Manipur have ignored his achievements, what can he expect from the rest of India ? We as a community still need to progress in the field of recognition, learning to clap to celebrate achievements of an individual. He expressed his thanks for the support, encouragement given by the Railway department in Guwahati, where he is currently posted. His team has been very instrumental in all his participations of the body building events.

This is the second part of his interview where he spoke about the coverage and recognition of any achievement in the field of Bodybuilding. He shared about where Bodybuilding stands in India as compared to cricket. We spoke in appreciation of the article “Did Indian media just ignore the Mr. World from Manipur?” and thank Bhargab Sarmah for highlighting this.

He shared very interesting perspective of travelling, international and local career perspective and charm that comes as part of participating Bodybuilding events, competition and shows. He spoke details of what he follows to maintain his body.

Do catch up the first part of his interview, where he shared about his story on how he got into body building, his journey and experiences on his winnings and his reflections and lamenting on the lack of encouragement and recognition.

MI_5Born and raised in the violence-torn landscape of Manipur, I have a vision to promote and spread inspiring, empowering, educative & entertaining stories. I believe that we can create contents bringing the positive side of Manipur. I believe we can do this together by finding the voices, voices which needs to be heard and shared, voices of our own people, people of Manipur and well-wishers of Manipur. I believe that these voices will bring a change and connect all of us.

I welcome you to join me in my journey to finding the voices at Http://FindingTheVoices.com/

S02E33 FindingTheVoices: Mr. Arambam Boby (4 times Mr. World, 12 times Mr. India) speaks out – Part 1

/ Monica Ingudam / 3 Comments
FindingTheVoices: Mr. Arambam Boby, 4 times Mr. World, 12 times Mr. India, a bodybuilder from Manipur speaks out (Part 1)
Guest Speaker : Mr. Arambam Boby
A Phone Interview, with Arambam Boby joining in from Guwahati, India.
Language: Interview in Meiteilon

Mr. Arambam Boby, bodybuilder from Manipur speaks out and shares his story with FindingTheVoices. He is 4 times Mr. World, 12 times Mr. India and has bagged many other titles.

And yet Findingthevoices is the first to interview him. Another reason of why we are here, we beleive in the power of Internet, Youtube and sharing by the public covering voices which the media haven’t found.

Mr. Arambam Boby laments that when the state government of Manipur have ignored his achievements, what can he expect from the rest of India ? We as a community still need to progress in the field of recognition, learning to clap to celebrate achievements of an individual.

He expressed his thanks for the support, encouragement given by the Railway department in Guwahati, where he is currently posted. His team has been very instrumental in all his participations of the body building events.

This is the first part of his interview, where he shared about his story on how he got into body building, his journey and experiences on his winnings and his reflections and lamenting on the lack of encouragement and recognition.

Please do check out for the second part of the interview.

MI_5Born and raised in the violence-torn landscape of Manipur, I have a vision to promote and spread inspiring, empowering, educative & entertaining stories. I believe that we can create contents bringing the positive side of Manipur. I believe we can do this together by finding the voices, voices which needs to be heard and shared, voices of our own people, people of Manipur and well-wishers of Manipur. I believe that these voices will bring a change and connect all of us.

I welcome you to join me in my journey to finding the voices at Http://FindingTheVoices.com/

Clip2 040 FindingTheVoices Message from Dr. Ngangbam Shantikumar Meetei, Mr. World to his fans and people of Manipur.

/ Monica Ingudam / Leave a comment

Message from Dr. Ngangbam Shantikumar Meetei, Mr. World to his fans and people of Manipur. Listening to him makes you realize that your likes, sharing, comments in Facebook could really motivate someone.
Full episode will be released this Friday at http://FindingTheVoices.com , We have shared Clip 1 earlier, be sure to listen to what makes him angry.
Photo Source: Healthy Body India

Clip1 040 FindingTheVoices Dr. Ngangbam Shantikumar Meetei, Mr. World sharing on what makes him angry.

/ Monica Ingudam / 1 Comment
Sharing a clipping of Dr. Ngangbam Shantikumar Meetei, Mr. World sharing on what makes him angry. And You wouldn’t want to make him angry !! So it is true that when you are hungry, you are angry.
Full episode will be released this Friday at http://FindingTheVoices.com
It was amazing, amazing, all I can say is he made me cry with his story, a story, spoken straight from his heart.
Congratulations to Dr. Ngangbam Shantikumar Meetei on winning Gold for Manipur at the Mr. World Championship at Greece this month.
Dr. Ngangbam Shantikumar Meetei is a Ph.D., Professor of English and a world bodybuilder champion.
He won 1st positions: Mr. Sub-Junior Manipur(1 time), Mr. Delhi(4 times), Mr. Northern India(3 times), Mr. Northern India Overall title winner(1 time), Mr. Taiwan National(13 times), Taiwan National Games(3 times), Mr. Hong Kong Invitation(1 time), Mr. East Asia(1 time), Mr Senior Asia(1), and most recently, in this month, July 5/6 Dr. Ngangbam Shantikumar Meetei beat the whole world and brought Gold medal for Manipur.
Also, He had competed East Asia (4 times), Senior Asian( 7 times), Asian Games( 2 times, 6th position twice, and Mr. Universe 6 times(2 times 9th place, 3 times 10th place and 1 time 14th place).