Nongthongbam Maipak : Mr. Maipak (Bodybuilder) : A Profile
"Only indigenous vegetables & fruits keep the body healthy and durable" : Mr. Maipak

Seram Neken / Ratneshwori Goswami *

Nongthonbam Maipak : Mr. Maipak (Bodybuilder) :: Pix - Hueiyen Lanpao

The healthiest Indian of 1970 was a Manipuri. The tenth best body of the world in 1971 belonged to Manipur. 'ON THE GOLDEN FOOTPRINTS' reproduces here the profile of Nongthonbam Maipak from Ratneshwori Goswami's Akao Parei Chankhrabasing published in the Huieyen Lanpao (Manipuri).

Sometime in 1966, there was a talent hunt programme for exploring wrestling players from Manipur. A famous wrestler from Haryana came to Manipur to impart training for around three weeks. After teaching various techniques during the camp, the Coach threw an open challenge to the Manipuri participants if anyone of them could beat him in wrestling.

On the instigation of the then Education Director Thangjam Modhu and former Prajatantra Editor L. Joychandra, a courageous young man came out and fought with the Coach. He could save the prestige of Manipur by defeating the famous wrestler with a few secret techniques of indigenous Mukna. Ashamed by the incident, the renowned coach stealthily left the camp. The person who demonstrated the strength and skills of a Manipuri was none other than Nongthonbam Maipak, who is better known as Mr. Maipak.

Born on 12th June 1935 at Uripok Sorbon Thingel Sinam Leikai, Maipak is the second son of Nongthonbam Komol Singh and Tampaklei Devi. By the year 1948, he began to explore a game that could identify Manipur to the outside states. With his healthy and fit body, Maipak began to take interest in bodybuilding, weightlifting, athletics etc.

During Second World War period, N. Maipak happened to see an Army Lieutenant Colonel, who temporarily resided at Naoremthong Imphal, practicing weightlifting regularly in morning and evening daily. On seeing the charming body structure of the Army Colonel, Maipak decided to take up body building as a sport. After the War, he collected the iron remains of the war from Chingmeirong area one by one, only to be used as weight bars. After careful deformation of the iron, he used them in the weightlifting. By that time, one S. Sunilchandra from Samusang Imphal was the trainer in weighlifting.

In 1953, he participated in the 4th Mr. Manipur Contest held at Rupmahal Theatre in Imphal. Soibam Megha got the title and Irom Lekhendra was in second position. Known as "Tarzan of Manipur", Irom Lekhendra had been the champions from 1951. Maipak could finish in the third berth. However, in weightlifting competition, Maipak got first position.

Besides being a bodybuilder, Maipak was also a renowned athlete in Hammer Throw, Shot Put, and Discus throw events. In the competitions of Hammer Throw, Discus Throw, Shot Put etc. organized in Manipur from 1953 to 1958, he was always the champion. In the National competition held at Delhi in 1958, N. Maipak broke the national records in hammer Throw and Shot Put events on behalf of the Manipur team which comprised 13 players and officials.

In 1970, Maipak held the title of "Mr. Assamshri" at Dwarka competitions. He also won three Gold medals in weightlifting and power lifting. In the same year, he went to participate in the Mr. India contest at Calcutta with Oja Gouramani as Team Manager and N. Nabakumar as Coach. After reaching at Calcutta, he was asked to represent Assam State. He along with the senior players requested the Arranger, Monotosh Roy to allow him to be in the Manipur Team.

Allowed by the organizers, Maipak took part in the contest as Manipur contestant, only to bring home the coveted Mr. India Title. M.N Khan from Bombay was the runners-up, and Padmabhaya Das from Orissa stood third. In the contest, there were 132 body builders from across India. In the first round, 50 contestants were selected, out of which 30 remained in the second round. The third round was finished with 20 only, and at last the top ten were selected.

In the trial for Mr. Universe contest in Darjeeling in 1971, Maipak became the only body builder qualified for the Contest by outdoing other seven builders from various parts of India. As the lone competitor from India, he participated in the Mr. Universe Contest in Paris on 25th and 26th September the same year. In the three member Indian team, Monotos Roy was the Manager and GB Giri was the Massage Man.

N. Maipak held the 10th position among the 72 contestants of the coveted title. He also got the special prize for demonstrating Mythological Best Pose. Some of the styles demonstrated by him during the contest were 'a dancing Khamba, pose of combing, pulling of rope, Lord Krishna with the flute, a dancing Mahadev, Christ on the cross" etc. Team Manager Monotosh Roy was invited on the stage to interpret the Indian styles posed by Maipak. Although the title was snatched by Albert Bekans of Great Britain, it was a great experience to the Manipuri Body Builder Maipak.

N. Maipak served as Sports Officer at the rank of Sub-Inspector in Manipur Police from 1970 to 1973. Afterwards, he worked in the fields and reared animals before being an employee of state education Department in 1977. The then Chief Minister Yangmaso Saiza created a special job for him in the Education Department. Later on, Maipak became the Body Building Coach in State Sports Department.

Perhaps the first Gold Medalist in weightlifting among the Manipuris, the 82 year old Maipak is still healthy and bereft of any ailment, except that his hearing has been slightly impaired and teeth gradually decaying. He is running a Gymnasium called All Manipur Body Building Centre at Lamphelpat, where around 15 youths are getting training in this sport.

During an interview with Sports writer Ratneshori Goswami, he expressed his reservations on the widespread use of food supplements by present day body builders. He was of the view that they must eat adequate valuable vegetables and fruits adequately in order to maintain the body strong and durable.

The various vegetables and fruits indigenously available in Manipur are enough for keeping the body strong and healthy. In the past, he used to consume lots of vegetables, fruits, local fishes, milk etc. to maintain his body. According to him, artificial food supplements would not keep the body healthy forever.