Youth Incorporated Magazine

When a hobby gets transformed into passion and combines with strong determination, the best version of individual surfaces. This is exactly what has happened with the young and talented Mumbai qualifiers of the Red Bull’s Rubik’s Cube World Cup.

Riddhi Shukla, Alaik Bhatia, and Shantanu Awale are the Mumbai Qualifiers who will be representing Mumbai at the national finals which is going to be hosted in Chennai on the  22nd September 2019. The winner of the national finals will go-ahead to the World Cup final in Moscow and represent India. The final match among the national winners will take place in the month of November.

The Red Bull Rubik’s Cube World Cup is a Rubik’s Cube challenge that was first held last year. Due to its massive success in the first season, it is back with its second season. This game challenge has four categories – Speedcubing mixed, Speed Cubing women, Fastest Hand (one-handed cube solving), and Re-Scramble (scrambling a solved cube to resemble a scrambled one).

The one vs one contest that took place on the 24th August produced three qualifiers from Mumbai. Shantanu Awale won in the category of re-scramble and fastest hand mixed in 41.950 seconds and 18.607 seconds respectively. Alaik Bhatia, the second qualifier won in the speedcubing mixed category in merely 7.120 seconds. Further, Riddhi Shukla, the third qualifier won at the Speedcubing Female category in 19.532 seconds. 

Youth Incorporated had the opportunity to interact with the three of them, get to know their journey and also learn some of coolest cubing tips and tricks.

Shantanu Awale is a young Instrumentation Engineering graduate from Ramrao Adik Institute Of Technology. He is currently working on setting up his own startup that happens to be related to cubing, called the’ Cube Nama.’ Through his startup he aims to promote cubing, conduct workshops and events about the same, which includes creating Rubik’s Cube’s artwork across the country, holding cubing competitions, conducting classes, etc. Shantanu initially started cubing in the 6th grade, when one of his friends introduced him to this game. Instantly, the Mumbai qualifier was fascinated and started cubing himself. Apart from this, thanks to the internet, Shantanu also watched a few video tutorials to master this game.

Alaik Bhatia, yet to be graduated, is studying the course of Business Management from Mumbai University. Alaik too started cubing when in school and was influenced by a friend. Speedcubing is Aliak’s major hobby that has changed him for the better. He states that cubing, once a hobby, is now a major part of his life. Alaik has huge number of friends online who too are into cubing, whom he has never met. Cubing in this world cup is most likely to give him a chance to meet his online friends which is why he is even more excited.

Riddhi Shukla is a strong working modern woman who is also chasing her hobbies and we are in awe! She is a professional senior software engineer with a bank and has been working for seven years. She has also been cubing since the same time. From the time Riddhi qualified for the national finals, she admits of being extremely excited. As there are no teachers and classes to master the game of cubing, Riddhi states that cubing has helped her learn the art of self-learning.

Apart from this, all three qualifiers state that cubing has brought in many positive changes in their lives. It has honed their hand-eye coordination, taught them to be patient, has improved their ability to approach a particular problem, taught them problem-solving, and helped them release stress. Cubing has also made them confident, shattered their mental blocks and pushed them towards progress. It has also helped them interact and communicate with people well.

When they discovered that they had been qualified for the national finals, these three cubing champs of Mumbai didn’t know how to contend their excitement. They stated that they had made their social circle of family and friends feel proud of them. On being asked about what their course of action would be if they qualify for the World Cup final, the three laughed and said that they would start sending out texts to family and friends sharing the news of their victory, after which they would dedicate serious time and effort to make India proud, by getting the Cubing Cup home. 

These cubers believe that anyone and everyone can solve a Rubik’s cube as it requires no special skills to be learned. All one needs in interest, passion, determination, and dedication.

We wish them all, good luck for their National Finals which is going to be held tomorrow at Chennai. To catch a glimpse of their talent, click below!!