What's next for these Guiness World Records-setting Mumbaikars?

Kranti Salvi

A tale of nine yards
Running a marathon isn't easy. But we can bet running in a saree is harder - even if it isn't a marathon. And that statement holds true for the most of us except 50-year-old Kranti Salvi. The Malabar Hill resident who runs an electronics supply company became the fastest marathon runner in a saree when she participated in the Berlin marathon in September this year wearing a nauvari.

"The record was previously held by a woman hailing from Andhra Pradesh but she wore a six yard saree. I wanted to present the nauvari on a global platform as an elegant Indian formal dress. Even the queen of Jhansi fought a war wearing one," Salvi says, and she ended up breaking the record by running an hour faster. But her plans don't end here. "In the official marathon world helmed by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races, there is a special medal called Abbot World Majors for those who complete six majors within a time frame. I have already successfully run in Boston, Berlin and New York. I will be running remaining three to secure the important trophy,"
she says.

A steady flow
For some people, boundaries are invisible. Prakash Nadar, 43, is one of them. In 2013, Nadar, who has polio, broke the record for successfully swimming a 42km stretch from Gateway of India to Rewas on Women's Day and dedicated the same to his mother.

Prakash Nadar. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

But Worli resident Nadar is in the process of registering another record for donating the most amount of blood. Addressing the fact that India is short of 60 tankers of blood, he says, "So far I have donated blood 110 times. My blood flows all over the country. Breaking the record is my only mission as I want to motivate people to do the same."

Running in reverse
We find ourselves in agreement with Harish Mohan, 34, the founder of Sipwise Drinks, who tells us that the best way to launch a brand is to break a record while doing so. And Mohan's organisation successfully managed that in May this year when they organised the largest backward running race in Powai on a 155-metre stretch.

"This had been tried before in Germany. So, we reached out to the organisers at Guinness and were told we needed 560 people. As per the mandate, we were given three trials, and we actually failed on the first attempt as people were marching. But the second was smooth and the event was so well received that the final turnout was 1,007," he says, adding that they're constantly looking for new concepts to try out - maybe a vertical marathon is next.

Picking holes
Local politician Navin Lade, 40, decided to take a unique route to address the pothole problem. Gathering three teams comprising of youngsters, he documented potholes in various corners of the city, and sent Mumbai to the book of records with a total count of 27,412 potholes.

Navin Lade

"We had to keep in mind that the images weren't duplicated," he says. Lade aims to break another record. "I read 26 newspapers daily, and have collected over 5,000 cuttings of eye-related articles. I will be sending my entry soon," he tells us.

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