Delhi family that broke all records

Four members included in Limca Book; one has a collection of 30,000 matchboxes

Delhi family that broke all records

Four members included in Limca Book; one has a collection of 30,000 matchboxes

Ameya Gupta may be just six years old, but few can measure up to his prowess. For Ameya has his name in the Limca Book of Records because of his collection of 1,239 measuring sticks or rules from 12 different countries. But many would say this is par for the course for his Vikaspuri-based family.

Ameya Gupta with his collection of rules

Ameya is studying in class I at Maharaja Agrasen Public School in Ashok Vihar.u00a0 His name was registered in Limca Book around 15 days ago.

Anuradha Gupta and her Limca Book certificate (below)

Do the math
Ameya's aunt Anuradha Gupta (41) an accounts teacher, first brought glory to her family. She has collected 30,000 matchboxes of 77 countries. Her 16-year-old daughter Kanika Gupta has a stockpile of 5100 erasers from 15 different countries. The fourth member who has brought glory to the family is Anuradha's sister-in-law Priyanka who has 13,096 name slips from 12 different nations. All four people have had their names registered in the Limca Book of Records.

Editor of Limca Book Vijaya Ghose with Ameya and Priyanka

"I was impressed by the achievement of my sister-in-law and her daughter so I decided to do something like them. Anuradha helped me. I started collecting name slips," said Priyanka.u00a0"I faced a lot of problems initially. I asked my friends to help me as well. I also did online shopping of name slips to complete my collection," she added.u00a0u00a0

Sharing her experience with MiD DAY, Anuradha said that she was studying in class IX when she started collecting matchboxes. "I liked matchboxes.u00a0 But I didn't know that collecting them could be a hobby. I never talked about this to anyone thinking they would ridicule me," she said.

Anuradha said that she wanted to go to cigarette kiosks to buy matchboxes but was apprehensive of people censuring her. She then started picking them up from the roadside. She was preparing for her B.Ed exams when she was praised for her hobby by her teacher.

Booked
"He was grading us on the basis of our hobbies. He called the whole staff and praised me. Then I joined Vanasthli Public School as an accounts teacher. The school authority conducted an exhibition of my collection. In 1993 my name was registered in Limca Book of Records," she said.u00a0

Anuradha then helped her daughter Kanika, a class XII student, follow in her footsteps. The teenager confesses she likes erasers because of how they smell. Using her pocket money, which was around Rs 800 initially, she started on her mission. Anuradha and her husband Praveen Gupta were enthused. "We used to take her to exhibitions at Pragati Maidan to purchase erasers of other countries. We asked our relatives who stay abroad to send her erasers as gift. Now she has 5100 of them from 15 different countries. Her name was registered in the Limca Book in 2003," said Anuradha.

1,239
No. of rules Ameya has in his collection

Cover to cover
Limca Book of Records was first published in 1990, when the brand was owned by Parle Group. The book continued to be published by Coca-Cola, when they bought the Limca brand. The 20th edition of this book was released by Amitabh Bachchan in March 2009. The current editor is Vijaya Ghose. It's year 2006 edition was launched in New Delhi by Atul Singh, CEO of Coca-Cola India. On September 25th 2007, a Special edition of it was released by Coca-Cola to commemorate 60 years of India's independence. On May 30th 2008, the 19th Edition was launched in New Delhi, India. Amit Mitra, secretary-general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) addressed the attendees in this event. Its 20th edition was released by Amitabh Bachchan. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief G. Madhavan Nair also participated in this event. The 21st edition of the book was launched on March 29, 2011. As 'Sports Achievers Special' edition it pays special tribute to the sportspersons who have done India proud in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. The book comes out in three languages - English, Hindi and Malayalam.