Chinmay Prabhu, a student of Kandivali’s KES’ Shroff College, made his way into the Limca Book of Records for being the first Indian to solve a mirror cube blindfolded in record time
Prowess in solving a Rubik’s cube is often a test enough for gauging one’s intelligence. When it comes to solving a mirror cube (shape-wise modified), with the added challenge of doing it blindfolded, the average person would simply baulk at it. However, 19-year- old Chinmay Prabhu of Mumbai’s KES Shroff College in Kandivali, not only rose to the challenge but shined brighter than any Indian ever.
Chinmay comfortably beat the previous record of 4 minutes 40 seconds by solving the mirror cube in 1 minute 31 seconds earlier this year and graved his name record book in October.
Chinmay, a student of S.Y. B.Sc. (IT), entered the Limca Book of Records-2017 by becoming the first Indian to solve the mirror cube puzzle blindfolded in a record time. This was no mean feat for Chinmay as solving a mirror cube is much more difficult than solving a Rubik’s cube. While in a standard Rubik’s cube, the task is to search for different colours and match them in their specific places, in a mirror cube the real challenge lies in its shape as when the cube is scrambled, it becomes unequal and has to be unscrambled back to fit the shapes in place. One can imagine how difficult the task becomes when done blindfolded, especially when the aim is to do it at a record-breaking time.
Chinmay clocked a time of 1 minute 31 seconds, comfortably beating the previous Indian record of 4 minutes 40 seconds. This is a creditable improvement indeed but not for Chinmay, who is aiming to do better. He says, “I am keen to practice more and I am confident that I can improve on my performance and lower the time taken.”
“I had been practicing for three years soon after I saw a friend solving a cube. For practice I used a mirror cube which is more about shapes than colours. I kept watching videos on YouTube and learned different algorithms
Kandivali Education Society, which runs the KES Shroff College, has for long built a reputation of mentoring and nurturing young talent and Chinmay’s achievement is yet another example of its efforts. Recently, KES had the pride of achieving a 10 per cent passing rate for the Higher Secondary (H.Sc.) exams for its Arts stream.
Commenting on the Chinmay’s achievement, Principal Dr Lily Bhushan said “Our staff doesn’t just teach, but educates and inculcates a way of thinking among students. Rather than focussing on academics, we focus on overall excellence which gets accentuated in every walk of life. We are proud of Chinmay’s achievement and hope that he will go on to do better and touch higher landmarks in future.”
The Limca Book of Records, launched in 1990, has become a benchmark of excellence with an aggregation of India-based records across 20 broad categories such as sports, communication, paint, dance, music, adventure, education, business, cinema etc. In the narrow segment of cube solving itself, there are 10 records of different kinds. The Limca Book of Records has had its own television shows. The Limca Book of Records quiz, based on its content and conducted in schools (Grades 8-12), has gone from strength to strength with over 4,000 schools participating in the same in 2012.
