The urge to break records is as old as mankind. The need to jump
longer or higher or to run faster than the rest is a very ancient urge in the
human species. This urge can manifest itself in different ways. Some want to be
the fastest, others want to be the first or do something the longest. It is
always very interesting. Vaibhav Rajamani, a young resident of Goa recently
completed something very interesting. He cycled around a skating rink in Sukur
from 5.30 pm and ended at 12. 50 am completing a distance of 151 kms beating
the old record of 130.29 kms.
This story starts five years ago. The 21
year old young man was keen on entering the Guinness Book of World records. He
says this wish to be on the list was in his bucket list. He went online to
check the website and he went through all the possible record titles to see
which one he could attempt to break. He came across the one on the greatest
distance cycled without using one’s hands and decided to focus his attention on
breaking the record. He then decided to work hard to make it a reality. A dream
will remain a dream if the hard yards are not put in to make it a reality.
Vaibhav has always been cycling as a child
and despite facing opposition from his mother, he used to cycle to school. A
resident of Panjim, he is now a graduate from the Don Bosco College in Mass
Communication. He works with the Museum of Goa with Subodh Kerkar as a
videographer and video editor. He said he had a chance to achieve his goal with
the support of so many people.
He said his parents were very supportive
of his goal and supported his intense practice sessions which usually started
at 7pm and ended at 2 am. His parents, he said, believed the record could be
broken and were with him every step of the way. Vaibhav said he had to thank
Subodh who had been supporting him from the beginning. Sharada kerkar, he said,
helped him with almost anything and everything for this event, right from
talking to various people, ministers, to actually organizing the event, coordinating
with different people etc. there were others who also very much involved like
Ahasthya, Manasi Mhamal, Kiran Mayenkar and Utkarsh Bhagat.
They started a crowdfunding exercise to
ensure Vaibhav’s dream happened. They aimed to collect Rs 2 lakhs and ended up
collecting Rs 1, 71,000. Before the event, they had to measure the land and the
details were collected as part of the evidence.
During the event everything had to be
tracked. Photographs had to be taken. One needs to send a list of evidence.
Vaibhav said, “We had timekeepers, we had witnesses present. We had
videographers and they had to record the proceedings from two different angles.
There was also photographic evidence of the event. All of this will be reviewed
by the Guinness record people. They will verify it and they will then revert in
3 months. By February, I will know if my record is recognised. Then I get a
certificate officially stating I have broken the record”.
His family, friends and well-wishers
celebrated his record breaking feat as he cycled through the final rounds
waving the Indian flag. He said he felt happy in his exhaustion and expressed
his confidence that his feat would be recognised.
The spirit to do something is very strong
and one hopes many more young men like Vaibhav do interesting things that catch
the attention of the world.
