Juggling cutlasses, wielding nunchakus and peer pressure

Sep 03, 2018 News

– Vigilance ‘Bruce Lee’ uses ‘mad’ skills to send positive messages

In today’s age, the rapid leaps of technology have contributed to the evolving of an entire new league of distractions.
In the 80s and 90s, cricket in the streets, a swim in the neighbourhood canals, climbing trees, dominoes and cards, and Monopoly and marbles were the going things.
Today, it is all about video games, malls, cable television, and social media. The distractions from music videos and the viral challenges from such craze as the Drake’s ‘Kiki’ song, which has been taking the internet by storm, have only served to underscore how much has changed.
For one Vigilance, East Coast Demerara youth, his passions of juggling, meditation and martial arts have propelled him into a recognizable face.

Proud father, Ganesh and his talented son, Vedakumar

He has posted seven videos on the popular YouTube sharing site and it is all going viral very quickly.
And there are a few reasons for this.
According to the soft-spoken Vedakumar Bissoondyal, 20, juggling a few cutlasses, much to the cringing observer, it is but child’s play.
He has never received injuries, testimony to his skills.
It is all in a day’s work to throw three cutlasses in the air at once and juggle them at eye-popping speed.
But wait, it does not stop there.
Vedakumar, whose hero is the Chinese kung fu star, Bruce Lee, has adopted the Facebook name of ‘Akash Lee’ and the number of followers and shares are quickly growing.
He is also adept to using the nunchakus, swinging them at dizzying speed.
His skills at juggling balls and even glass bottles are par for the course.
However, for the Vigilance youth, a vegetarian who neither drinks or smokes, his skills are not limited to just juggling a few balls and cutlasses or deftly spinning a lance.

The Vigilance youth in action.

He is also into martial arts, mediation and of course, could flip his body effortlessly.
It would not be an unusual thing to see him run up a wall and somersault easily, something that most teens could only dream about.
His dad, Ganesh Bissoondyal, 44, is a part time martial arts teacher. The skills have been passed down from his grandfather.
To many on the East Coast, he is known as ‘Bruce Lee’.
Bissoondyal, a pandit, said that he would not stand in the way of a passion that is being pursued by his son…the eldest of three children.
He has taught his son meditation and a little of the martial arts.
Currently the Bruce Lee fan is practicing to flip over cars, not an easy thing. That video will soon be out.
Of course, what stands out is the fact that the Vigilance boy had to ask permission to upload the videos of the feats unto YouTube.
“My son knows where we come from. He was not afraid to ask for permission,” the proud father told Kaieteur News.
The videos have been garnering rapid attention with persons easily recognizing the young ‘Bruce Lee’.
Perhaps, what is more remarkable is Vedakumar is a fast learner.
He could pick up a skill just after 15 minutes of practice. In fact, sometimes he practices just once a week.
“It is about positive values, and him doing something that is clean,” the father noted.
Vedakumar had no problem taking a few of Kaieteur News staffers outside on Friday, during a light drizzle, to demonstrate his skills of running up the walks.
But there were a few staffers who hurriedly departed after Vedakumar started his three-cutlass routine. The videos can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100015053464012