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Groin king He is…
Bibhuti Bhushan Nayak, a commerce graduate, came to Mumbai from Cuttack to work as an accountant.
He has…
Entered the Limca Book of Records for getting his groin kicked 43 times without an abdominal guard and performing 1,448 sit-ups in an hour. Featured in the Guinness Book for doing 819 back-hand push ups in an hour.
Injuries/Hazards associated with his record-setting spree? Nayak has already fractured his wrist joint, has knee-joint problems and minor fractures in the fingers and suffered a minor brain haemorrhage.
Why try crazy feats?
“I was ragged in college and was made to do several push-ups, sit-ups, etc. When I watched the Guinness television series, I was inspired. Now, getting into the record book is a passion for me.”
Other records he wants to set…
On June 23, he plans to break the palm push-ups record in the Guinness. Next, the forward and backward rolling for a mile. Another one, breaking two concrete blocks against his groin using a seven kg sledgehammer.
To read about the underwater crawler, turn to page 2 |
Want to be famous? Hot day? Plain bored? “Come, be a Guinness Record Holder.” What say, Mumbai? Don’t get startled by that weird refrain. A large number in this city actually says yes to such an urge everyday.
In a run up to its forthcoming show Be a Guinness World Record Holder, television channel AXN invited bids from people who want to set a record and get featured in the Guinness Book of Records. The counter opened on May 19 and by now it has already received more than a thousand responses from aspirants who claim to have the longest nose hair, want to run on one foot, kiss the longest, ride a bike for three days without food and water or walk from Antarctica to the Arctic without oxygen.
Limca Book of Records, the Indian equivalent of the Guinness Book receives hundred such enquiries daily. Many of these aspirants who form an ‘underground community’ are organised under a Delhi-based group called the Guinness Record Breakers’ club, which has about a hundred members from Mumbai.
Upon analysis, the record holders and contestants can be divided into two sets. There’s one group which collects objects as hobby and sets records thereby. The second group is of people willing to perform abnormal acts to get into record books.
The raison d’etre of the former group can be explained. “I started collecting cinema tickets in 1943. My intention wasn’t to set a record. But I am happy that a simple hobby has brought me fame,” admits Pravin Thakker from Parel, a Limca Book entrant. What might be baffling, however, is a person wanting to fart the longest to enter the Guinness Book. Replies Tirath Mehta, an applicant to the AXN show, who fancies the above feat, “It’s just for ‘time pass.’ My friends and I thought, why not? Basically I want to set a world record.”
And this want can manifest itself in many extremes. “You have a lot of ambitious parents wanting to push their kids into the Limca Book, but I have turned down several,” says Vijaya Ghose, editor, Limca Book of Records. Similarly the Guinness Book has turned down requests from people like Bibhuti Bhushan Nayak (see box) who wanted the act of having been kicked 43 times in the groin featured in the British annual. But Nayak has persisted with his “passion”, much to the annoyance of his family. “I never tell my wife when I am planning to set another record,” whispers Nayak.
Browsing through the list of Indian record holders, Nayak does not seem an exceptional case. “The reasons for each person indulging in such exploits are different,” elucidates Dr Anjali Chhabria, a psychotherapist. “One of the explanations is the prime need for recognition. Secondly, dissatisfaction with the career, which can prompt one to seek excitement elsewhere. Also, people are looking for a short-cut to becoming famous. For example, those who grow long hair or moustache realise that since they cannot do anything spectacular, they could do something stupid instead.”
Perhaps a combination of these reasons and others has resulted in a full-fledged Indian annual like the Limca Book, 85 Indians in the Guinness, a forthcoming television show and several interesting stories like these.
