He has hobbies and interests which are lot different from his peers. He can solve Rubik’s Cube with ease and at the recently concluded Shastra 2011 contest organized by the World Rubik Cube Association at IIT Madras he came out with flying colors by solving the Rubik’s cube in just 42 seconds with his personal best being even better at just 30 seconds. He was the youngest contestant to solve the cube in such a short time. He can make astonishing Rube Goldberg machines and can make many Domino structures and has uploaded many such videos of them on Youtube and has viewer hits upwards of 14,000 which is no mean achievement.

Shivam can do many magic tricks and also tricks using the Yo-Yo. He can do cup-stacking very fast and with dexterity. He likes building electrical and scientific gadgets and has built many small cars, robots, propelling boat, cranes, etc. His other hobbies include playing cricket, table tennis, chess and badminton. Swimming, skating and gymnastics are his other sporting passions. He likes adventurous sports too and he has done Bungee jumping from an astounding height of 106 meters at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban South Africa. He has also flown an aircraft simulator and also mastered the body flight at iFly Singapore.

He is very good in dance and drawing and has won many awards and recognitions. Photography is also one of his passions and he has made a good collection of them. He is an avid fan of National Geographic, Science and Discovery channels. He likes reading books especially on subjects of wild life, science and general knowledge with Guinness Book of World Records and Ripley’s Believe it or not being his favorites.

He has won i-genius scholarship organized by Max New York Life Insurance. He has obtained All India Rank twice in the National level Science Talent Search Examination 2009. All these activities do not mean studies are left behind. He is very good in studies as well. Shivam is the son of Shailendra Bansal an Electrical Engineer from IIT Roorkee presently engaged in his own software business. When asked, Shivam said he wanted to become an aerospace engineer when he grows up.