The 21-year-old Manipur boy said that a team from the Mahindra Group is in touch with him and he is planning to join an engineering college to further hone his skills. The Mahindra Group is also taking care of the educational expenses of his younger sister and younger brother, he added.
TFM Report
The 21-year-old Manipur boy, who shot to fame after his creation of Ironman suit from scraps and cardboard grabbed the attention of Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra, never had a big dream. “I just wanted to help out my mother and lead a simple life putting my imagination on the canvas,” said Prem Ningombam, who just graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Imphal Arts College.
However, his life took an expected turn recently when he shared his creations using electric waste and cardboards on social media platforms. He left Anand Mahindra awestruck with his extraordinary skills.
“I am awestruck & inspired by Prem’s ambition & skills that have flowered despite—not because of—his circumstances. Many of us from privileged backgrounds never appreciated enough the resources we were given. But Prem uses scrap material & basic tools to shape his creation,” tweeted Anand Mahindra.
He also tweeted that “Our Group’s Chief Design Officer, @BosePratap is equally inspired by Prem & will be connecting with Prem to mentor his career. @SheetalMehta the head of the Mahindra Foundation will facilitate the continuing education of Prem & his siblings…”
Prem said that a team from the Mahindra Group is in contact with him and he is planning to join an engineering college to further hone his skills. The Mahindra Group is also taking care of the educational expenses of his younger sister and younger brother, he added.
After seeing Anand Mahindra’s tweet, the AICC observer (Manipur) and Member of Parliament Jairam Ramesh, who is in the state for election related activities, also visited Prem in Heirok. “His creativity & drive despite his socioeconomic conditions astounded me! I’ve requested my colleague Okendro to also extend Prem fullest support to fulfil his aspirations,” tweeted Jairam.
Born to N Rasheshwari and N Herojit, Prem a resident of Heirok Bazar is the second child amongst four siblings. He recently graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Imphal Arts College. Now, one may wonder how an Arts graduate had to do with building machines. Quite a lot actually.
Prem told TFM, over the phone, that he had been painting since childhood, and he is quite good at it. He also said that he had been tinkering with designing popular characters using cardboard or mud.
“I used to sell my paintings and small toys during festivals like Holi, Janmashtami, etc. This was before the advent of smartphones. Kids used to buy those. But not anymore,” he said.
Prem said that he drew all the designs and then thought of achieving the mechanism. Figuring out the mechanism actually took a lot of time, he said.
Prem’s introduction to robots was in 2005, when he watched a film “Robots”. When he was in Class VIII, Prem came across “Noisy boy” in the Hollywood flick “Real Steel” — a movie about robots fighting in a ring like boxing. He instantly fell in love with Noisy boy and made one for himself.
Before making the Ironman suit, he had also made R2-D2, the famous robot from the Star Wars series. He also tried his hands on making the “Dummy”, a robot arm featured in the Ironman movies.
“I watched tutorials/videos on YouTube trying to figure out the mechanism,” he said and added that most of them required complex and expensive parts.
Prem never had any formal training on electronics. So, he did the next best thing — using scrap and crude methods. He actually uses just a battery, wire, thread and motors to achieve the functionality of his designs. Maybe this is the reason many are now calling him a genius.
Prem’s father left the family when he was studying Class X. Since then they have been living at his mother’s place at Heirok Bazar. His mother runs a small eatery near their home from morning to dusk. Prem helps out his mother’s business, which is the only source of income for the family.
The sudden limelight caught the humble and shy 21-year old off-guard. “I never had a big-dream,” he said and added he wanted to help out his mother and lead a simple life putting his imagination on the canvas.