Being a son of a drug addict, I was stigmatised and discriminated. Even my friends were prohibited to mingle with me. I took this social attitude as a challenge to prove that even a son of a drug addict can be an achiever” revealed Robert took to bodybuilding to fight frustration and eventually bagged the 5th position in the senior Mr. Asia 2018 held in Pune recently.

Right from birth odds were heaped against Robert.  Born to a heroine user at the notorious border town of Moreh, infamous as a major transit point into India for heroine from Myanmar, Robert was brought up in a surrounding  buzzing with the illicit drug trade with Moreh Ward No. 3 where his is from  being the hub. 

Like many drug addicts who were overwhelmed by the ‘king of drug’ as heroine was known as, Leishangthem Paka Meitei, Robert’s father succumbed to his heroine addiction and died of an overdose.

His father’s death was a life-changing lesson for young Robert to the dangers of addiction. During this crucial phase of his life, Robert  chanced to listen and interact with Arambam Bobby, the state’s own former Mr. World, who visited Moreh in the year 1998 for a motivation talk to stay away from addiction.

Inspired by the Mr. World, Robert took up body building as a profession and never turned back. 

Deprived of a  functioning gym at Moreh or the resource to buy body building equipment, Robert went around collecting discarded iron parts of trucks and jeeps like cranks and shafts and made them his training equipment. 

“Initially when I started, people laughed and mocked me  saying all sorts of things, enough to discourage me. But I kept at it. When my efforts translated into titles and medals, people’s perception gradually transformed and started regarding me as a role model.”   

Besides several state, regional and national titles and medals, between the year 2003 to 2016,  winning Mr. Manipur, Mr. Northeast India, Mr. Eastern India and best poser title in Mr. India  in 2014, Robert stood 6th position in the 60 Kg Open Mr. World and 4th place in the Mr. Asia contest in 2016. The 5^th place in the Senior Mr. Asia 2018 is his latest achievement with his muscles.

Robert who trains on his own on a regular bases said, “there is no substitute for hard work. Body building is an individual game and the success depends on individual efforts We may forget what learn but we must not forget who taught us.”

Robert Meitei is father of two daughters and presently working as the Principal of a school in the hill district of Ukhrul. Robert’s message to the youth of the country is to “eat food as medicine and not medicine as food.”