Archives Human Story III · (b June 3, 1969) of Peddapuram, Andhra Pradesh made a miniature golden compass which indicates directions only ... Daily Mail, Dainik Jagran, Jagbani,

CompassSai Talabuthala(b June 3,1969) ofPeddapuram,AndhraPradesh madea miniaturegoldencompass whichindicatesdirections onlyby magneticpower of north andsouth directions. Made ofgold and steel shaving blade and a small needle heassembled 36 divisions of NSEW in tiny letters onDec 21, 2015. The 464 mg compass with 9.50 mmdia took 2 hr 27 min 35 sec to make.

Lightest chairKamal Dev Sharma (b Jan12, 1951) of New Delhimade the lightest 450 gmfolding chair 26 inch high,7.6 inch wide and 8 inchlong which can carry aload of 100 kg. Withimprovements made sinceNovember 2014 theproduct was finalized inNovember 2015. Made ofaluminum pipes, nuts andbolts and ebonite sheet thechair is easy to fold andunload in 3 min. It is madefor those who have tostand in long queues inbuses, trains and otherplaces.

WR: Smallest cricket stadiumShaminder Singh (b Jan 13, 1976) of Coventry, UK, built a handmade miniature four-storey, 3-ft tall cricketstadium covering 6 x 6 ft complete with15 mm stumps and 5 mm bails in seven months from Feb toAugust 2015.

The stadium has apple i pad working as a big screen with floodlights with lights in the stumps, a pitchwith real clay, working slide doors and more than 1000 LED lights. Numerous stands named afterlegendary cricketers - Sachin Tendulkar, Sir Donald Bradman, Rahul Dravid, Brian Lara, even QueenElizabeth - are covered with Indian flag colours. There is enough space for 3,660 to sit. It has players’dugout, Coca-Cola drink trolley, pitch cover, present ceremony board and advertisements galore. BBCand Sky Sports stands have plastic glass. A digital scoreboard shows time and scores. The stadium hasCCTV cameras and charity stands for organisations like Save the Children, Cancer Research UK, BritishRed Cross, Water Aid etc.

Shaminder spent £3000 pound on the stadium. His stadium was covered by many print and electronicmedia, British and Indian like BBC News, Mirror, Daily Mail, Dainik Jagran, Jagbani, Punjab Kesari, PuneMirror, Ajit News etc.

SMALLEST

T H E H U M A N S T O R Y

humanstory 2017 -III.pmd 3/31/2017, 3:12 PM49

LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS 2017


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Smallest gold number lockGanesh Subramaniyam (b May 6,1975) a goldsmith ofThiruvananthapuram, Kerala, madethe working model of a miniatureworking number lock at his home.The numbers can change from 000to 999. The lock could be openedwhen the digits 567 are set. Hestarted in February 2011 and tookseven months to make it byAugust. A solo effort, the lock was3 mm high, 1 mm in circumferenceand made of 40 g of 22 ct gold.

COLLECTIONS

WR: AutographsYogiraj Dr Sarvesh Soni (b Nov 3, 1972) of Nashik,Maharashtra has the largest collection of autographedphotographs of VVIPs of the world, a hobby since 1991.The collection of 32,318 autographs includes 8,348Indians and 23,970 foreign celebrities from 217countries on June 30, 2016. He has autographed photosof presidents, prime ministers, governor-generals, kings,queens, heads of states and freedom fighters.

Autographs (Dravid)Satish Chaphekar (b Feb 5, 1957) ofDombivli, Mumbai is an avid autographcollector with 9,000 celebrity autographs since1969. He has a special collection of 48autographs of cricketer Rahul Dravid for his 48centuries. Not only does he keep theautographs in his album but he got Dravid tosign 6-10 times on each bat! He is one of thefew autograph collectors who have sharedtheir autographs on a global site. For hisinterview and autograph collection, visit http://csridentity.com/thane/satishchaphekar.asp.

BindisA Kalaivani (b Feb 6, 1993) of Ramanathapuram,Tamil Nadu has a collection of bindis of varioussizes and colours sourced from shops and markets.Each bindi has a separate design withoutrepetition. She took 18 months – June 2014 toDecember 2015 – to collect 2,000 bindis.




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Diecast models of cars/bikesMohammad Yaseen (b May 27, 1992) of Bhopal, MP is a passionate collector of diecast models, copy or replica of originalslike Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover, Lamborghini and bikes like Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Triumph, Harley Davidsonand many more, a hobby since 2009. These are licensed productswhich are only made when companies give them permission to usetheir logos, engine design, interiors that are original.

Car models come in 1:32, 1:24, 1:18 sizes and bikes in 1:18,1:12, 1:6. At present he has 60 cars and 50 bikes in a showroom inhis home. He also clicks photos of all models with his digitalcamera. His car/bikes model collection is from many countries –Singapore, South Africa, UAE, Ireland etc.

Autographed First Day Covers of astronautsDeepak Sharma (b Nov 8, 1985) of Moradabad, UP has the largest collection of 50unduplicated autographed First Day Covers of 50 astronauts, a collection since November2014. His collection includes many famous astronauts like Rakesh Sharma, Ravish Malhotra,Valentina Tereshkova, Alexey Leonov, Helen Sharman, Gerald P Carr, Naoko Yamazaki andmany more.

Autographed photos of astronautsDeepak Sharma (b Nov 8, 1985) of Moradabad, UP has the largest collection of 325unduplicated autographed photos of 175 astronauts, a collection since November 2000. Hiscollection includes many famous astronauts like Rakesh Sharma, Sunita Williams, ValentinaTereshkova, Alexey Leonov, Edgar Mitchell, Charles Duke, Richard F Gordon, EdwardGibson and many more.

Chalk carved itemsShridhara S (b July 15, 1969) of Bangarpet,

Karnataka has a miniature chalk carvingscollection since Feb 2012, kept at hishome. He has 510 household items,1,001 sparrows, elephants 1,050 and50 mudrikas, total 2,711. All items are

done with blade, ball pin and acryliccolours. Each item takes 8-10 min to

carve. He holds exhibitions in schools,colleges and other venues.

Cookery prizes wonSushma KK (b Dec 21,

1952) of Jaipur,Rajasthan, who is anexpert cook, has beenwinning prizes at

cookery competitionssince April 1995. By June

30, 2016, she had won 99 prizes. She has writtenthree books on cookery – Lajawab Vyanjan,Marwari Rasoi and Ek Chammach Tel ki Rasoi.

CrosswordsRaju Umamaheswar of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu has a collection ofsolved and unsolved crosswords, a hobby pursued since 1991. ByMay 31, 2016, he had 1,58,525 solved crosswords (includingonline). He solves them every day and marks them with the date,time and location, creating a detailed diary of his work.Umamaheswar has been participating in the Hindu CrosswordCorner blog daily as also other crossword blogs like TheCrossword Unclued, Business Times, Hindustan Times etc.




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Gandhi memorabiliaDr Bhanu Pratap Singh (b Jan 7, 1961) of Raipur, Chhattisgarh has themost unduplicated photographs of Mahatma Gandhi – 1,667 –collected over the last 10 years. He has 235 photographs of A3 size and1,358 of 6×4 inch besides 74 cartoons, art works and paintings onGandhi. He started collecting these photographs after visiting Raj Ghatand Gandhi Smarak Museum in New Delhi in 2010. He also wrote acoffee table book Rare Photographs on Gandhi on Oct 2, 2014.

Key cardsDeepak Sant (b Oct 5, 1953) from Nagpur,Maharastra has a collection 70 key cards fromvarious countries starting in2009. Key cards are fromacross the world – theUSA, Canada, China,Malaysia, Singapore, Japan,UAE, Germany etc.

Part of his own travelskey cards are collectedthrough friends, familyrelatives who also travel. They request hotelpersonnel if they can keep the cards as souvenirsand they usually oblige!

WR: Key ringsRakesh Vaid (b Sept 7, 1953) of Delhi is a passionate key ringcollector, a hobby he started in 1979. By June 30, 2016, he hadincreased his collection to 28,000. He displays his collection in aseparate room in cupboards, almirahs and on display boards. Hismind-boggling collection has not only unusual shapes and sizes butalso handmade key rings like India Gate, swimming pool,gramophone, kitchen-rack others which he has made himself. Healso makes handmade key rings using his own precision work tools.

Ganesha idols and other artifactsPabsetti Shekhar (b Feb 22, 1961) of Secunderabad, Telangana has beencollecting Ganesha items, big and small since July 3, 1973. By June 30,2016 his collection had grown to 16,865 Ganesh idols, 18,422photographs (available in 95 albums), 1,098 posters, 170 books onLord Ganesh, 184 key chains and 168 audio/video cassettes.

The articles vary in form, size, shape and material – gold, silver,bronze, brass, aluminum, precious stones, terracotta etc. He has unusualitems like pen stand, wall hanging, lamp, switch mirror, watch bell, allGanesh items.

His collection is from more than 30 countries.In 2013, Temple of Fine Arts, Malaysia awarded him the Best

Collection Award.

RecipesBhaskarbhai C Patel (b July 6, 1938) of Vadodara, Gujarat has acollection of handwritten vegetarian recipes and news clipping ofrecipes that started in 1999. He has 16,639 handwritten recipes and23,023 paper cuttings; total is 39,662.




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WR: Handmade GaneshasFor the last 16 years, Rama Satish Shah has beenmaking Lord Ganesha idols in different shapes &sizes, without using a mold, just chanting slokasand mantras. All the idols are handmade,unbreakable, washable and very beautiful. Shealso makes these idols with her eyes closed(blindfolded). She completed making 3,51,000idols in 16 years on 30th June, 2016, taking 4,599days to make them.

GiftsVishav Gupta (b Sept 10, 1962) and VishalGupta (b Sept 10, 1964) of Chandigarh havebeen collecting free gifts since 1992, startingwith a tonic bottle and a lunch box. By June30, 2016, their collection had grown to astaggering 90,050 articles! They have threerooms stacked with gifts. The value of the‘free gifts’ could be around Rs 7 lakh or more!

FragrancesKartik Rajpal (b Jan 1, 1994) of New Delhi has536 unduplicated deodorant cans and fragrancesfrom 17 countries, a hobby since 2008.

Hanuman artifactsKrishan Kumar Chaurasia (b June5, 1960) of Lucknow, UP has acollection of Hanuman artifacts, ahobby he started in 1998. Hehas 6,000 Hanuman images infour albums. He also has itemslike 160 framed pictures, 90handmade idols and paintings, 20coins and 500 Hanuman CDs.

Hanuman ChalisasPraveen Gupta (b April 29, 1969) of New Delhi

has been collectingHanuman Chalisas, a hobbyhe began 24 years agowhen he was in college. ByJune 30, 2016 he had 398Chalisas in variouslanguages, mostly in Hindi,

without duplicates. His collection has two metalChalisas–one each in silver and brass – and one inBraille.

Matchbox and label exhibitionsSunil Kumar Bhatt (b Sept 27, 1968) of Bhopal, MP has a collection of 20,000+ matchboxes andlabels, a hobby since 1982. He has been holding exhibitions regularly called ‘Own my Collection’, an

annual event organised at Regional Science Centre (RSC)since 2011 during the celebrations on InternationalMuseum Day for two days on the specific themes of theyear. Other than the RSC exhibition, his first exhibitionwas in 2007 in Carmel Convent Senior Sec School,Bhopal. With the latest exhibition on August 15, 2016, hehas held 57 exhibitions. He has also exhibited in othercities – Nagpur 2009, Jaipur 2010 Udaipur, Bhatinda2011, Kolkata 2015.

ErasersKhushboo Marda Malani (b March 10, 1980) of Delhi who has been collectingerasers since 1996 had 14,642 including 1,840 duplicates by June 30, 2016. Thecollection is from 15 countries across the world.




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M-Seal jewelleryAnuradha Soni (b Dec 24, 1979) ofBikaner, Rajasthan made 500 M-Sealjewellery items in 66 days from Oct13 to Dec 17, 2015 (66 days). Asolo effort, she made an assortmentof ornaments from earrings, studs,necklaces, bangles, rings and more.

Manuscripts digitisingDr Dinesh M Vaidya (b March 24, 1974) ofNashik, Maharashtra has been digitising oldhandwritten manuscripts (pothis) some ofwhich are in Sanskrit, Modi Lipi, Marathi andDevnagri or Prakrit with their own uniquegrammar, mathematics, science and religiousrites.

Through his archives, he is trying to spreadawareness and knowledge of ancient techniquesbased on Vedas, Ayurveda, Physics, Chemistry,Alchemy and Architecture. By June 30, 2016, hehad digitised 7,45,000 pages of manuscripts.His oldest manuscript Mitakshara is 645 yearsold.

Name slipsPriyanka Gupta (b Dec 21, 1985) of Delhi hascollected 26,782 unduplicated name slips fromnine countries by May 2016. The collectionincludes name slips on Indian stamps, cricketers,film stars, tennis players, Indian Air Force fighterplanes, cars, bikes, flowers, cartoons, historicalcharacters etc.

PanchangsPeddinti Ramachandra

Srihari (b Jan 15, 1976)from East Godavari,Andhra Pradesh has acollection of Telugupanchangs, a hobby since1985. The 106 printed

panchangs are from 1910to 2016. It is difficult to find

these rare panchangs from theearly 19th century. They are normal

tabulations used as shortcut formulationpropounded by ancient vedic sages and scholars.

Nokia handsetsJayesh Umesh Kale (b April 13, 1985) of Thane,Maharashtra has a collection of 500+ Nokiahandsets, a hobby he started in 2013. All hishandsets are in working condition. His ultimategoal is to exhibit his collection.




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Paper napkinsAnuradha, husband Parveen anddaughter Kanika Gupta have beencollecting paper napkins a hobby since2015. They have paper napkins ofairlines, hotels, restaurants, dhabas,pubs, bars, banks, universities, railways,ferries, amusement parks, advertisingvarious brands. They also collect non-commercial paper napkins categorisedon the basis of pictures on them likeowls, personalities, dance forms,cartoon characters, musical instruments,Tashsigns, flags, animals & birds, unusualshapes etc from various countries of theworld.

They have collected 11,262commercial and 8,394 non-commercialnapkins so far. No two napkins areidentical in this collection. Some of thepaper napkins are 50 years old.

PencilsTushar Lakhanpal, 18, from NewDelhi is passionate about collectingpencils from across the world, ahobby since he was three. As of June30, 2016, he had 16,765 black leadpencils from over 60 countries. Therange of the collection hasSwarovski, wooden pencils, scentedpencils, and few crown pencils, agold plated pencil, a pencil for thespecially-abled, the longest pencilbeing 8 ft 3inch long and the shortest1.5 inch.

PursesAiza Waheed Fazal(b March 5, 2013) hasbeen collecting coinpurses from the worldtotaling 304 by June 30,2016. The purses arefrom Kenya, India,Pakistan, Dubai,London, Tanzania, HongKong, Singapore, China,Uganda and Canada.

QuotationsGulnar Sultanali Fazal (b May 9,

1960), an NRI based in Mombasa,Kenya, has been gatheringquotations and proverbs formore than 42 years. By June 30,2016 her quotations had grownto 74,970 compiled in 117

notebooks which vary in size andpage numbers. She puts down

quotes by date, month and year. She has asmall library where she keeps her entirecollection in one section under lock and key!

RosariesJenny Joseph (b May 9, 1961) of Padanakkad,Kasargod, Kerala who has been collectingChristian rosaries from various countries for thepast many years had around 1,145 by June 30,2016. Containing 53 beads, each rosary is differentusing various materials like pearls, stones, glassbeads etc. Longest rosaries are around one meterand shortest ones are about 20 cm. The rosariesare from India, US, Australia, Pakistan, Poland,Israel, Jordan.




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SpoonsShubhangi Apte (b April 25, 1955) of Raipur,Chhattisgarh has 1,852 small and big spoons, acollection started in April 1995. She held a two-day exhibition of spoons at the Grand Hall ofMaharashtra Mandal, Choubey Colony, Raipur onOct 31 and Nov 1, 2015. Over 800+ visitors sawthe exhibition of spoons collected from not onlyvarious states of the country but also fromcountries like New York, Dubai, Japan, Singapore,South Africa, USA etc. The collection had silver,gold, ceramic, steel, copper and wooden spoonsin a variety of sizes, shapes and colours. Thebiggest spoon was 18 inch and smallest 1 inch.

SudokuKS Rao (76) of Hyderabad was attracted to Sudokuin 2009. He started with easy puzzles and quicklyrose to the higher levels. He now solves only very

hard/evil puzzles takenfrom websites.

Puzzles solvedhad grown to5,123 by June 30,2016. He takes30 min perpuzzle. His book

Sudoku Made Easygives easy tips for even

difficult puzzles without need of using a pencil oreraser. The book was well appreciated by MakiKaji, father of modern Sudoku.

Thematic matchboxes and labelsHitesh Pant (b Dec 5, 1982) of Haldwani,

Uttarakhand has a matchboxes andlabels collection, a hobby he startedin 1994, systematically putting themtheme wise in albums. At first hehad very few but gradually hiscollection grew to more than 300.

He keeps his collection in boxes,skillets, albums and bread boxes in a

glass almirah.

Turbans, caps et alAnanta N Joshi (b Feb 20, 1968) of Kalyan,Maharashtra has caps/ turbans/ armoury in hiscollection, a hobby started in August 1975. ByJune 30, 2016, his collection had increased to2,276. His collection includes pagdis, cowboyhats, medieval helmets and more. He hasstarted another category of collection –military caps, hats and helmets from acrossthe world. He has exhibited 50 such articlesin Pune at Balgandharwa Kaladalan from May26 to 28, 2016. He has a museum exclusivelyfor his caps/ turbans collection at his home.

Waste to wonder mini modelsDevendra Prakash Tiwari (b Nov 18, 1961) of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh has acollection of 150+ miniature models of war equipment, a hobby sincechildhood but in 1982, he started collecting them as well. All made with wastescrap, metal and rubber parts, the items measure 2 to 12 inch. He has made anInternational Space Station, INS Virat, the aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy, aDragline mining machine and a table lamp which are maximum 20 inch. Othersare less than 12 inch.




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Water wrappersKartik Rajpal (b Jan 1, 1994) and MohammedNabil Mohammed Sali (b Dec 9, 1992) of Delhihave a collection of water container wrapperswhich was started 2015. The 287 wrappers arefrom 5 countries and no wrapper is repeated.

Wood-finish fountain pensDr Sunil Gupta (b Nov 26, 1964) of Jaipur,Rajasthan has 563 wood-finish fountain pens,adding 26 to his 2015 tally. A hobby since 1982,these pens are made of different materials likemetal, plastic and ebonite. Dr Gupta uses thesepens by rotation in order to keep them in workingcondition.

Register coversKanika Gupta (b Dec 7, 1993) and Kartik Rajpal (b Jan 1, 1994) of New Delhi have collected most copyand register covers – 2,104 – since they were in Class X. They have segregated them on the basis ofthemes displayed on the cover – environment protection, social messages, animals and birds, professions,dances, costumes etc. No cover is repeated.

CURRENCY NOTES & COINS Biggest and smallest currencynotesA Babu Rao, 65, of Vijayawada hasthe biggest and smallest currencynotes, gifts from friends. The largestcurrency note is a Russian 100Rouble, issued in 1910. It is 26.5cmhorizontal and 13 cm vertical. Thesmallest Chinese note was 5 cm(vertical) and 9.5 cm (horizontal).

Currency notes ending 786 (value-wise)Narinder Pal Singh (b April 3, 1954) of Chandigarh has beencollecting Indian currency notes ending in 786 since 2001.Apart from Indian currency, he collects currencies ending with786 from 14 countries — Pakistan, USA, Singapore,Australia, Thailand, Hong Kong etc. He has 26,764 suchcurrency notes, valued at Rs 14,61,588 as of June 30, 2015.Number of foreign currency notes is 5,251.He has three mobiles ending 786 – 9988373786, 9888459786,9815247786. His car registration is CH-01-AA-1786.

Prefix notesRajkishore Mahanta (b March 29, 1994) of Keonjhar,Odisha, a notaphilist, has the biggest collection of 398

varieties prefix notes of Re 1 & Rs 2from Sept 2008 to March 2016.He has 398 varieties prefix of Re 1(total 18 Finance secretaries with59 issue) and 289 varieties of

prefix of Rs 2 (total 14 RBI Governorwith 36 issues).




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Coins from 1882 to 2015Shreya Jakhar (b March 29, 2005) and her father,Jagvir Singh (b Oct 28, 1974) of Sonepat have a

joint collection of year-wise coins starting

from 1882 to 2015except for the fouryears – 1902, 1937,1948 & 1949 –when coins werenot minted.

Coins from foreign mintsRakesh Kumar Nagpal (b Jan 10, 1966) ofBareilly, UP has 18 Indian coins from nine foreignmints – Birmingham, London, Canada, Kremnica,Mexico, Moscow, Pretoria, Hungary - only twoare missing from the total. He started his coincollection when he was 10!

Hole-in-coinsThomas Mathew (b May 11, 1968) of Chenauur,Alappuzha, Kerala has 380 hole-in-coins (basedby catalogue) from 95 countries, a collectionstarted in March 1981. Each coin has a differentpouch. Thomas has a lifetime membership in TheKerala Numismatic Society, Kochi.

Rs 10 coinsSandeep Tibrewal (b August 21,1979) of Bengaluru, Karnataka hasbeen collecting varieties of Rs10

coins, a hobby since he was in Class 5.At present he has 28 types of coins.

Re 1 notes of all FS signaturesArvind Kumar Pai (b March 22,1986) from Cherthala,Kerala has 6,500 currency notes, the largest collection of Re1 notes bearing the signature of every Finance Secretary, atleast three of Re 1 from every year issued from 1949-2016.

Rs 5 commemorative coinsManish Dhameja, (b July 10, 1986) of Lucknow, UP has 62 commemorative Rs 5 coins, a hobbysince five years.

Currency notes and coins from most countriesAmit Muraka (b Jan 23, 1986) Beawar, Rajasthan has the largestcollection of currency notes and coins from most countries, a hobbyhe started about 17 years ago. Currency notes are from 193 nationsaffiliated to the UN, 212 obsolete nations and 79 island andoverseas territories totaling 484. Coins are from 193 nationsaffiliated to the UN, 198 obsolete nations and 68 Island andoverseas territories totaling 459.

Most odd-shaped coinsDr Bhanu Pratap Singh (b Jan 7, 1961) of Raipur,Chhattisgarh has the most un-duplicated odd-shaped coins – 203 – from 18 countries, acollection since 2004. He started with a set ofguitar-shaped coins set of Somalia. He went on tocollect many odd-shaped coins.

Bi-metallic coinsAnjita Chadda (b June 18, 1986) of Jaipur, Rajasthanhas 3,000 Rs 10 bi-metallic coins with 18 varieties,

a collection started on June 18, 2013.



25 paise coinsKalla Ashok Kumar (b August 10, 1989) ofVisakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh has beencollecting 25 p coins as a hobby he started onAugust 10, 2012. The judges at Amar ConceptSchool deployed students to count the coinswhich came to 77,777 on June 30, 2016.

Fifty paise coinsKewal Singh Rana (b Jan 7, 1962) of Mohali, Punjabhas 80,000 fifty paise coins, a 26-year collectionstarted in 1990. The weight of the coins is about400 kg.

Longest exhibition of currency & coinsDr Bhanu Pratap Singh (b Jan 7, 1961) and his son Aaditya PratapSingh (b Jan 12, 1988) organised the longest exhibition of coins,paper money and stamps at City Mall 36, Raipur for 451 days fromJan 8, 2015 to April 3, 2016. Themes of the exhibitions werechanged every 15-20 days and several other activities wereorganised during the exhibition.

Most coloured coinsDr Bhanu Pratap Singh (b Jan 7, 1961) of Raipur, Chhattisgarh hasthe most un-duplicated coloured coins – 240 – from 22 countries,collected since 2007, a collection with the Animal series from Somalia and other African countries.

THIS & THAT

Mega Onam feastBPCL Kochi Refinery organised a mega Onam feast for 16,500 people at their premises for theiremployees and other stakeholders on August 21, 2015. The feast was a part of celebrations for achievingSafety Milestone of 10 Million Lost Time Accident free Safe man-hours at the ongoing Integrated RefineryExpansion Project (IREP) site.

The ‘Royal Kerala Feast’ had 14 varieties of dishes known as ‘Onam Sadhya’ which was laid out atIREP site, Ambalamugal, Kochi. The feast was served at three venues inside the Refinery boundary.

Menu: White rice, Sambar, Rasam, Paneer Matar Masala, Pineapple Curry, Aviyal, Thoran, AlooGobi, Pickle, Puliyinji, Curd, Pappadam, Pazham, Payasam (two varieties), Sarkara Varatti, VaruthaUpperi (banana chips) and mineral water.




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Tallest Thrikkakara AppanDuring Onam, people make a conical structuresymbolizing the deity Thrikkakara Appan in theirhouses as a part of the rituals. For Onam 2016,the organisers erected a 51-ft tall, ThrikkakaraAppan with 15-ft dia which was built in six daysfrom Sept 8 to 13, 2016 by Ayyanthole DesamPulkkali Sanghataka Samiti with the help of 16people. Normally Thrikkakara Appan is made ofclay or mud and generally has four faces with aflat top. The Athapookkalam, the special floralarrangement done during Onam, was also made.

Lighting 111111 ghee lampsKaithali Mahadeva Temple at Mele Pattambi, Kerala whichis in under central archeological department has beenlighting 1,11,111 lamps (Lakshmi Neydeepam) for thepast 10 years. On Maha Sivarathri of March 7, 2016, forthe first time in its history, the temple was lit by ghee(clarified butter). Thousands came to light the lamps –poor, rich, old, young, physically challenged people –everyone lit ghee lamps!

Legal awareness padyatraAdvocate Rekha Rani (b July 1,1972) of Lucknow, UP undertook alegal awareness padyatra or footjourney, Lok Vidhik JagrooktAbhiyan. She covered 600 km inone month starting on April 28and ending on May 27, 2015.




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Biggest family gatheringPonmanichintakam Kudumba Sangamam in Kozhikode, Kerala organised grand celebrations at its get-together of theentire Koya families at Tagore Centenary Hall on Jan 2-3, 2016. Family members in Kozhikode, in other parts of Keralaand across the country and even from abroad came to join the festivity, reviving old, cherished memories. The two-daybash had entertainment galore with performances by family members.

Ponmanichintakam is spread over the city having 613 family units residing in separate houses with threespeciality doctors, 10 MBBS doctors, one scientist, 82 engineers, 32 MBAs, 8 MCAs, 5 CAs, 11 B Eds and 260graduates. During the two days, 1,805 members (475 living abroad) gathered for the merrymaking.

Ponmanichintakam situated in Kozhikode city came into existence in 1832 after the marriage of MM MammedKoya with Biyyathutti. The ancestral house is still there in Gunny Street, Kozhikode, keeping its heritage. PMMohamed Koya is Chairman of the Ponmanichintakam Kudumba Sangamam.

Ice cream stick decorationsVallabha Swamiji and his team in SwaminarayanMandir Kalakunj in Surat, used 11,11,111 candysticks, each stick 11.5 cm long with a 1.2 cmwide to make a Hindola during Chaturmas, thefour months starting July and ending November.They made decorations with the candy sticks in16 domes. Around 110 people worked day andnight for 10 hr for 28 days which was 15,400 hr.

WR: PadyatraMahendra Pratap, MD of Yuva Jagriti International JanJagran Anterved Sewa Sansthan along with Awadh BihariLal, Govind Nand, Vijay Shankar and Jitendra Pratap ofLucknow, UP launched a World Padyatra (walk) forpeace starting from Kanyakumari with 20 members onJuly 30, 1980. Since then the padyatra has continued inIndia and neighbouring countries like Nepal, Tibet,Afghanistan, Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, Bangladesh,Bhutan and China covering 3,08,000 km till June 8,2016. They walk 40 km in a day. In the course of thepeace walk, they have planted 3 crore 20 lakh saplings!

Jewel-studded Taj MahalHeera Zhaveraat made a replica of the Taj Mahal and had itreleased by Southern Gujarat Chamber and Industry atSparkle International Jewellery Show on Jan 3, 2014. Studdedwith 24 ct gold, the 9 ft tall diamond replica with a 50 ftcircumference was covered with decorative LED lights. Duringthe 4-day show, two million foot falls were recorded. The workdone with 15 artisans was completed in 45 days.




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Lab stacks biscuits on noseSnoopy, a three year old Labrador retriever fromBangalore is no less than any circus artiste. He canbalance 40 biscuits on the tip of his snout andnever tires of showing his prowess to his masterSatish Basavaraju’s many friends and admirers.

Novel table calendarWith many table calendars in the market, anA4 size table calendar titled ‘My Calendar ismy Message’ created by Naresh ChandraMathur (b Jan 12, 1951) of Patna, Bihar standsout. With three separate calendars but onecomposite theme, the three calendars withmonth and dates (not days of the week) itdoesn’t confine itself to a particular year butwill be relevant for eternity. Each calendar hasa theme on social causes, like Save Water,Smoking & Education (twin), and Thought forthe Day with relevant article and pictureplaced on front page.

A magical memory!C Prashanth (b Sept 25, 1997) of Karamana, Thiruvananthapuram,Kerala possesses an incredible calendar memory by which he can tell

the exact day of any given date between AD 1 and10,000 on the Gregorian calendar in less than15 seconds! His memory of dates and eventsworks like a computer. This ability isastounding because Prashanth is specially-

abled, born with many disabilities - congenitalheart disease, suffering from cerebral palsy, 100% visual disability andhearing and speech impairment!

Impact Day 2015As a part of its global corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) activity Deloitte’s Impact Day2015 was conducted in 13 cities across Telanganaon Nov 27, 2015. There were over 500 locations,with nearly 30,000 volunteers and lives impactedwere 8,75,000. There was a spotlight on‘courageous principals’, a leadership developmentprogramme for government schools acrossTelangana and Andhra Pradesh. There were 160projects and four causes – Education,Empowerment, Ecology and Culture.

Non-stop coconut breakingKarakkura Ramachandran Nair of Kalathil ShreeVettakkourumakan temple, Aluva, Kerala

performed doublePanthreerayiram, breaking24,027 coconuts in one sittingfrom 11.00 pm on Jan 26 to5.00 am on Jan 27, 2016. Hetook 5 hr 20 min in all. Nairis the official Komaram inaround 150 temples.




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Vijay Stambh made of coinsNikunj Kumar Tomar (b July 1, 1979) ofBulandshahr, UP and friends Nitesh Kumar, AsifKhan and Vishal Singh made a 10 ft tall and 10inch dia Vijay Stambh using 44,875 coins atMaharana Pratap Seva Sansthan, Hapur on Oct11, 2015. Made of 38,750 Re 1 coins and 6,125Rs 2 coins the Stambh was made in 15 hr withoutany break from 10:00 am on Oct 8 to 1:00 pm onOct 9, 2015. The Stambh was wrapped up flagcolours with mini flags stuck to the pole.

Counting each step in a journeyMaruti Kirte (b Sept 13, 1949) of Pune,Maharashtra undertook a walking journey orpadyatri counting each step from DehugaonMandir on July 3 ending it at Pandhapur on July24, 2015. After 100 steps he drew hundredone-inch lines in his log book and counted thetotal lines on each day. The total of steps countedduring the 21-day walking trip was 3,83,044.

Pinning a mini flag everydayShahnaz Ahmed (b Sept 5, 1974) of Churu,Rajasthan has been pinning a miniature tri-colourflag on his breast pocket every day since Jan 22,2013 in order to inculcate patriotism andnationalism. He wears it day and night and in

every occasion, atprayers, in funerals,

festivals like Eid,reading theKoran or anyother religion,his flag isalwaysprominently

visible. He sticksminiature flag in his

diary, suitcase, file, harddisk, computer, room keys, laptop, mobile andmany more. When the National Anthem is playedon a radio or TV even at home, Shahnaz stands upin attention.

Shivaji’s forts by walk and horsebackPopat Jaywant Khopad (b June 30, 1969) of Nazare, Pune who has a40% disability of spine (ankylosing spondylitis) has ventured to travelto eight forts in Shivaji’s terrain in eight days from May 9-17, 2016.A diurnal odyssey of 8-10 hr every day, the route is one that wasfollowed by Shivaji Maharaj, involving 369 km on horseback and44 km by walk. One stretch has a 100 m vertical ‘ladder’ that Popathimself tackled. Popat started from Khavli village near the backwater of Dhom Dam and ended his journey near Purandar Fort(Saswad).




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Restoring oldest turret clockAshwani Kumar (b August 4, 1979) of Chandigarh restored theoldest turret clock of Christ Church in Kasauli. The clock,imported from Manchester, England was installed in 1884. As theclock was dysfunctional for the last 30-40 years or so, he soughthelp from the Army’s EME division. Ashwani started on the repairwork in May 2015 and completed it by June 2015.

Ashwani took it upon himself to examine the complex levels andgears of the machinery at the top of the church. Although severalclock agencies offered to make an electronic one but it was notacceptable to him as he was keen to restore the original one.

The over 130-year-old turret clock made by WH Bailey andCompany has started ticking again!

Highest marriage proposalRamneek Singh Toor (b July 15, 1990) andSwatabdiv Mallik (b June16, 1986) both fromKolkata have been travelling across India onmotorcycle for more than five years. On May 30,2015, on a motorcycle road trip from Kolkata toGurudongmar Lake in North Sikkim, Ramneekproposed to Swatabdi at 17,200 ft above sea level!His wish came true at Gurudongmar Lake!

Gobar Snan (Cow urine bath)RC Bafna founded Goseva Anusandhan Kendra, a goshala, in Jalgaon specially to take care ofabandoned, unproductive cows. The inmates live in ‘goshala,’ an animal shelter for cows, amongst2,500 cows, utilising various products like cow milk, ghee, curd, gobar, urine etc which are alsopopular at many other places in India and abroad.

Every Sunday morning, for the past the four years that is, since 2012, around 12 -20 male volunteersassemble at the goshala wearing only undergarments. Around 10 buckets (14 litres) of cow dung withurine is kept in a corner. The thoroughly mixed paste is applied all over their body from head to toe. Amild massage is done by the participant himself or with the help of another participant. The gobar pasteremains on body for 45 minutes to an hour until it dries up. The environment is jovial. Then they all go toa tube well for a proper bath. Invariably they report freshness in skin and body.




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Shivaji Fort restoration & durg pujaShivaji Trail, the oldest Fort Restoration Group ofPune, Maharashtra initiated by Milind Kshirsagarin 1996, started a cultural tradition of durg puja(fort worship) on the last Sunday of February eachyear since 1997 to raise awareness about forts.Started with a single selected fort, every year thistradition has been continuing for 19 years. Thenumber of forts and people has increased as wellas the durg puja and as a result in 2016, durg pujawas performed in 121 forts of five Indian states –Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan andMadhya Pradesh – simultaneously on Sunday, Feb28, 2016. Out of 121 forts, 22 were graced bythe descendants of Maratha warriors. The FortRestoration Group has coined the slogan - ‘SaveForts Save Heritage’.

Bargad plantationIndian Red Cross Society, District Branch Rewa, MPplanted 1,111 bargad (banyan) plants under itsenvironment protection initiative, ‘Ek Bargad kaPed’ on August 11, 2016. The 2–3 year-old plantswere more than 75 cm tall when there weretransplanted. The project had 1,111 donors whowill pay Rs 1,111 to adopt tree and 1,111 personswho will take care of the plants for two years.

Oldest working surgeonDr G S Jhala (b Sept 9, 1925), General Surgeon whopresently lives in Ajmer, Rajasthan is the oldest-workingsurgeon. He was the first doctor from the three close-by

districts of Rajasthan - Banaswara /Dungarpur/ Pratapgarh. He retired in 1980from JLN Medical College and Hospitals,Ajmer as Professor & Head of Surgerydepartment and Superintendent of Hospitals.

After his retirement he joined St FrancisNursing Home as a consultant and is operatingtill date. At 92 years, he drives his own car.He has performed more than 20,000operations in 54 years that comes to 30operations per month. He has been awardedmany times.

As General Surgeon he has operated allparts of body, even heart, as specialty surgery came later.He operates almost three to four days a week dependingon when he gets patients. You can access it on hiswebsite.

Split tongueBharat Khatri (b Feb 4, 1989) of Jaipur,Rajasthan has a spilt tongue (like a snake’sforked tongue), a modification he gotdone in Nepal on August 3, 2016. Peoplecan show off their tricks when two sidesare healed.The two halves can be raisedup and down opposite each other, spreadapart from the other half, and they caneven grasp objects and hold onto them!




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TKM School Independence Day celebrations 2014TKM Centenary Public School and TKM Higher Secondary School, Kollam organised a mega venture‘Samarpan’ where 5,400 students, teachers and ancillary staff made a human chain of the National flag tothe accompaniment of drum beats and released hundreds of tri-colour hydrogen balloons, orange, whiteand green in their school campus at 9.30 on August 14, 2014. There were 60 rows of students borderedwith staff members in white. They used scarves, wrist bands and balloons by dividing them into 20 rowsof each colour. The Ashoka Charkha had 24 spokes in hard blue all in proportion to length and width.

Independence celebrations by differently- abled childrenAs a part of its Independence Day celebrations, Gitanjali Devshala School, Secunderabad, Telanganaorganised the largest congregation of differently-abled school children waving the National Flag. Theevent had 3,516 students aged 3-18 years from 14 schools waving the National Flag for over 2 min from11.34 to 11.36 am to the tune of ‘Sara Jahan Se Accha’ on August 10, 2016. The school’s ‘Waving forInclusion’ event set the tone for celebrating 70 glorious years of Independence. Older students recitedverses from Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali, ‘Where the mind is without fear’.

AUGUST 15 CELEBRATIONS




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Longest tri-colourIn Purnea, Bihar, more than 12,000school children, college students,volunteers and common peopleformed a human chain holding a7,100 m long and 1 m wide tri-colourwhich started at Gulabbagh ZeroMile and ended at Dagarua onNational Highway 31 on August 20,2016. The tri-colour was dedicatedto soldiers who have laid down theirlife for the country.

Organised by Sunil Kumar Sumanand Hotel Shreenayak, it took 30days to make the tri-color.

Har Ghar Tiranga, Har Gaon TirangaChandra Raghunath Patil, Lok Sabha Member of Parliament of Surat, initiated a movement called‘Har Ghar Tiranga – Har Gaon Tiranga’ by distributing Indian flags to all citizens, a culmination of a longand successful campaign. He started giving away flags on August 3 and by Independence Day,August 15, 2016, had distributed 23,486 flags by courier and 2,045 personally, total 25,531.More than 100 volunteers were involved.

India map outline with 70,000 bottlesOn 70th Independence Day, students of Sri Vasavi Matric Hr. Sec.School, Dindigul, Tamil Nadu made a 30,235.68 sq ft outline of Indiawith 70,000 tri-coloured glass bottles on August 15, 2016. Within themap, 558 students, 60 staff and the principal scattered seeds todemonstrate that India will become a fertile land with a message tospread awareness of ‘Wealth from Waste’.The function started at 7.00 am and ended by 12.00 pm.




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GANESH CHATURTI 2016

Eco-Ganesh workshopViviana Mall in Thane West with NGOs help conducted an Eco-Ganesh workshop for Ganesh Chaturti for its visitors and kids onAugust 27-28, 2016. In the 16 hr (8 hr each day) two-day workshop,there were 411 participants, young and old, each making one idol.Materials were sadoo mitti, non-toxic colours and water. Of 411idols 160, were taken home by the visitors to install at homes and theremaining 251 were displayed at the Mall. Immersion (visarjan) wasdone on seventh day.

Ganapathies by differently-abledTwenty-five deaf and dumb children created 108pot-clay Ganapathies at Apte Prashala, Pune in3hr from 9.30 am to 12.25 pm for GaneshChaturthi on August 26, 2016. The childrenmade idols under the guidance of Sumeet SanjayPatil who works for the education andimprovement of the lives of the differently-abled.

WR: Heaviest besan ladooTata Chemical Limited prepared an 8,645 kgbesan (gram flour) ladoo for Ganesh Chaturthiand offered it at the Andheri Cha Raja pandal atDN Nagar, Andheri, Mumbai from Sept 22-29,2015. All ingredients used were traditional –besan, sugar, ghee (clarified butter) andcardamom. After weighing, the ladoo wasdistributed for general consumption as prasad(offering). Forty cooks made the ladoo in 170 hr.

Largest pandal structureSanstha Brahmachetna is an organisation in Indore,MP which has been involved in social causes.Among them is Ayodhya ka Raja, a regular eventevery Ganesh Utsav for the past nine years. Theorganisation has been making large templeconstructions like Somnath and Ambaji templeson auspicious days. In 2016, for the 10-dayfestival, they made the largest temporary pandal,125 ft high, 100 ft wide and 200 ft long. Work onthe pandal started on July 20 and was completedon Sept 2, 2016. Approximately two trucks ofthermocol, 21,000 bamboos, 10,000 m clothwere used for the interior decoration. It wasconstructed by 50 workers from Bengal who hadexpertise in making idols during Durga puja.


Documents

Archives Human Story III · (b June 3, 1969) of Peddapuram, Andhra Pradesh made a miniature golden compass which indicates directions only ... Daily Mail, Dainik Jagran, Jagbani,