Meet Sonam Wangchuk, the man who inspired Aamir Khan's role in '3 Idiots'

Sonam Wangchuk makes artificial glaciers for Ladakh's desert villages

Do the names Phunsukh Wangdu or Rancchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad aka Rancho ring a bell? Names of the protagonist in Raju Hirani’s movie, 3 Idiots, played by Aamir Khan, the character they belonged to wasn’t a figment of a fertile imagination, but drew inspiration from the real life story of an engineer-cum-scientist called Sonam Wangchuk. 

This Ladakh-based genius has been building “ice stupas” fashioned as artificial glaciers to address the chronic water problem in the community he lives in.

While Wangchuk’s initiatives were first noticed and brought into prominence by 3 idiots in 2009, there’s more to this engineer-turned-educationist than what