‘Mowgli’, the jungle boy, was found with wolves in 1831 in the caves of Santbawdi village in the Gond tribal area of Seoni. Mowgli, believed to be a Gond himself, held a weapon, the Boomerang, a hunting tool and weapon of the tribe. After being discovered by some British hunters, and their reciting the tale to their counterparts, famous writer Rudyard Kipling recreated the character and made him a famous kid with superhuman powers.

Boomerang, as is obvious from its name, is something that returns to the thrower when thrown with a certain technique. It was used for hunting, catching fruits and even defence. It was widely used a weapon in wars and matches. Originally, it was made of wood, metal, even ivory, but present day championship boomerangs are mainly foam and PVC materials.

Ken Colbunghad strong ties with the Indian Gond tribe, that went long into the past. He had a notion of the Indian tribals being some distant cousins to the Australian Aboriginals, which has recently been even proved by DNA matching. Ken Colbung’s tribal name was ‘NundjanDjirijarkan’, and was famous all over the world with many titles like ‘Boomerang Guru’, ‘River Man’, ‘Army Man’, ‘Boxer’, ‘Tribal Leader’ etc. He had always believed that the Boomerang must be identified and credited as the original tool of the Gonds of India, and worked relentlessly to bridge the gap between the aborigine communities of the two countries.

Ken Colbung’s only Indian disciple, Vivek Montrose, learnt the sport at the tender age of 15, in 1991, and became the first Indian to learn to not just throw but even carve a Boomerang, resulting in his being fondly titled by the Gond community as ‘Jeans wala Mowgli’. Vivek, with the Blessings of his Guru, became the first Indian to represent the nation at an international Boomerang championship, held in Australia in April 2019. Moreover, he has been appointed as the first Indian member of the International Boomerang Federation Associations (IFBA).

RECENT HISTORIC EVENTS

Invitation to represent India for the first time at the 50th Anniversary celebration and championship of the BAA (Boomerang Association of Australia). Participating countries included America, Germany, Japan, Indonesia, India, Australia among others.

In the course of his journey, his work has been recognized and appreciated highly, and some of these accomplishments include felicitation by Hon’ble Central Steel Minister Sh. Faggan Singh Kulaste, and Hon’ble Governor of Chhatisgarh Smt. AnusuiyaUike. He was invited to hold a discussion on promotion of Boomerang nationally, at the minister’s residence on Talkatora Road, New Delhi. Felicitation was also done by Hon’ble Cabinet Minister Sh. Sajjan Singh Verma from M.P. on International Tribal Day celebration at RavindraBhawan, Bhopal. As Founder President of IBA- Indo-Boomerang Association, he has been busy holding workshops, seminars, conferences and making public appearances to generate awareness for this sport, and even demonstrated the sport at ‘EKLAVYA’- the National Level EMRS Sport Meet, M.P., alongside Hon’ble Cabinet Minister for Tribal Affairs Mr. Omkar Singh Markam. Presently, he is planning India’s first Boomerang Championship at international level.