Meet Pongam Konyak and Nginlei Konyak, the First Lady Mechanics from Nagaland

Kohima, July 21, 2019:

Pongam N Konyak (18) of Wangti village and W Nginlei Konyak (17) from Phuktong village under Mon district came all the way from Mon to Kohima to be trained as professional bike mechanics on July 18.

The Nagaland Motorcycle Club (NMC) has brought them to Kohima to give them proper training and they are currently training at the Gear Heads garage.

NMC founding member, Peter Rutsa said they first heard about the two girls on social media and few newspapers so had sent out words that they were determined to train the girls if they were interested to get trained for more professional work.

He mentioned that the two girls are very independent and are staying up in the NMC empty office. “Today is their third day and they were provided with goods and daily needs by the group”, he stated.

Talking about NMC, Rutsa stated that NMC will be celebrating their 10th anniversary next year and said that it is a government registered club willing to help anyone in need. Rutsa also mentioned that they will look forward to send the girls for certificate course so that they will have brighter future when they go back to their hometown and start a garage.

Pongam N Konyak has said that they were inspired to become a mechanic a year back when her motorcycle broke down and the two went to a garage and saw the other male mechanics.

They said they faced lots of criticism but they were determined to follow their dreams and had not given up because of the love and support from the family.

She also added that they were very grateful to the NMC team for bringing them here and said they had been enjoying their stay and had very positive inputs and experiences till date.

W Nginlei Konyak also mentioned that in-spite of the hardship and insults from some people in the village being a girl, said this are just challenges and a phase and hope people change their mindset and will support and encourage them.

She added that they were both taekwondo players but could not go further because of different reasons.

The two childhood friends said that they are excited to be trained from a place like Kohima and said people had been kind and giving extra tips too. They both dream to go back and open a garage in their village and hope that people will react more positively once they go back trained.

They encouraged all upcoming youths to take up challenges and to come out and explore and that money comes and goes but learning will last forever.

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