Showing posts with label mumbai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mumbai. Show all posts

Saturday, October 29, 2011

“Paagal Means Passionate” – Interview of Dinesh Upadhyaya in Sunday Times of India


Publication: The Times Of India Mumbai; Date: Aug 21, 2011; Section: Times City; Page: 6
Sharmila Ganesan Ram TNN

FOR THE RECORD

‘Paagal means PASSIONATE’

Dinesh Upadhyay has been in the record books 70 times for sending the smallest sms, cashing the smallest cheque, inserting the longest nail up his nose and other such bizarre feats


Despite being a man of few words, Dinesh Shivnath Upadhyay is known to have a big mouth. In many parts of the world, especially in the US, he is even called ‘Maximouth’. A recent Youtube video of him offers clues. It shows the Goregaon resident tying a pack of 92 Natraj pencils with a rubberband, picking the bundle up with both hands and stuffing it inside his mouth. Following this, a newspaper in the US nicknamed him ‘Maximouth’ and a local radio station even gave him an award for being the ‘most pagal Mumbaikar’, which Upadhyay accepted not just because it came from Aamir Khan. “Pagal means passionate,” clarifies the chemistry teacher, who seems to have now made breaking and making new records a way of life.
Upadhyay’s collective record count so far—including mentions in The Limca Book of Records, USA’s The Record Setter, India Book of Records, Miami’s World Records Academyand London’sRecord Holder Republic—is 70. Seated outside his modest home, the

bespectacled coaching class teacher urgently sifts through his many spiral-bound record certificates, eyes bloodshot. “I hardly sleep,” he says, which explains how he must have accomplished such feats as ‘most finger snaps in one minute’, ‘shortest wildlife video’, ‘longest fictional monologue using movie titles’ (a book that now bears Aamir Khan's autograph), most chemical element names in a single tweet and, hold your breath, longest nail inserted inside the nose (“I did it only because a record-holder challenged me to it”).


Though his cheeks hurt every time he tries the pencil stunt and the risk of injury is constant, this multiple-record holder is undeterred in his pursuit. “I want to create as many varied records as I can,” says the stubborn Upadhyay, who idolises New York’s 130-record strong Asrhita Furman. Reason: “He is very versatile.” Upadhyay seems to be getting there soon. Besides 11 Twitter records (which by itself is one of his records), this teacher also holds a certificate for the smallest money transfer ever done by cheque. “During the recession, when my brother refused to accept any money from me for his startup company, I decided to pay him a token amount of one paise by cheque.” He didn’t expect it to be cleared but when it was, Upadhyay instantly knew that he might have unintentionally pocketed a world record.

It was a similar impulse in 2007 that his record addiction can be traced back to. He had chanced upon a “misprinted” envelope then. The stamp and the text on this envelope were all printed in reverse. He immediately filed an RTI seeking information on its place of origin, which revealed that the slip had happened in the Nashik Press. The Limca Book of Records deemed the possession of this unique envelope record-worthy in its 2009 and soon, his hunger pangs for more records became frequent and incurable. “It takes my mind off problems and gave me a sense of personal identity,” he says.

Among his most treasured records is the one he got for possessing a handwritten letter from Gopal Godse (brother of assassin Nathuram Godse). Curiosity saw Upadhyay pen a letter to the conspirator in 1999, seeking his motive for conspiring in Mahatma Gandhi’s murder. “I received a reply that said, ‘Read my biography’,” recalls Upadhyay. “In the letter, he also informed me that he was going to undergo a cataract operation and since I’d mentioned my specialisation in physical chemistry, even asked for my help with creating an electric device using ancient Vedic Hindu sage Agatsya’s mantras.”

Upadhay now has a diary full of over a hundred potential record ideas and is preoccupied with finishing an 11-year-long attempt—the largest Hindi crossword puzzle. His “pagalpan”, however, is lost on his family members. “Except my 15-year-old niece and my pet cat, no one appreciates this. They want me to concentrate on my career, as I don’t earn anything from my records,” he says.

Strangely enough, his trivial pursuits have not got him even local fame. “None of my neighbours know of my records.” Even his students are unaware of their teacher's quaint, famous alter-ego. “I seem to be popular everywhere except in Mumbai,” he smiles, the tinge of regret in his voice unmissable. Perhaps he needs a bigger mouth.

GAG ORDER For the chemistry teacher breaking records is a way of life


The Times of India (TOI) founded on 3 November 1838 is an English-language daily newspaper in India. It has the largest circulation among all English-language newspapers in the world, across all formats. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_of_India

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

WORLD'S SHORTEST BOOK ADVERTISEMENT



Dinesh Shivnath Upadhyaya is a teacher, writer & multiple world record holder from Goregaon, Mumbai (India). He believes in creative writing, so he always involve in experiments in writings. ‘Puran Katha’ is one of best example of it.

Puran Katha’ (Ancient Story) is Dinesh’s collection of micro stories on ancient Hindu mythology. He also believe that ‘Puran Katha’ is world’s first ever ‘Twitter Book’ with most (250) micro stories (in the form of tweets) published on Twitter.
http://twitter.com/#!/PuranKatha


New York based world record organization ‘Record Setter’ recognized his writing work as world record of “Most Micro-Stories Published On Twitter”.


Almost 1 year of research & writing, Dinesh completed total 250 micro stories. All micro stories based on ancient Hindu mythological events, epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Shrimad Bhagavad-Gita, Vedas, Upanishads, Purans, & other authentic sources. Under the limitation of 140 characters, each story is complete & different from other stories. Each micro story is in Hindi (National language of India) but typed in English.


For the publicity of his unique book, Dinesh made a unique video advt. of just 0.33 second. Now he claims for the ‘Shortest Book Advertisement’.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7IPGE1PhlI




Recently, New York based world record organization 'Record Setter' recognized his creativity as world record of 'Shortest Book Advertisement'


Monday, February 7, 2011

DINESH UPADHYAYA HONORED AS ‘URDB FEATURE OF THE WEEK’ ON ‘URLESQUE’

Most Pencils Fit in Mouth at Once
 (URDB Feat of the Week)

29th Jan, 2011

 
 http://www.urlesque.com/2011/01/29/most-pencils-fit-in-mouth-at-once-urdb-feat-of-the-week/

Welcome to 'Feat of the Week', in which our pals over at the Universal Record Database (where everyone can set a world record) hand-select one awesome world record to highlight.

As a teacher and scribe, Mumbai's Dinesh Upadhyaya is a big believer in creative writing. He is also a big believer in creatively writing his way into the record books. After setting an eclectic bunch of URDB world records -- from Most Finger Snaps in One Minute to Most Chemical Symbols From The Periodic Table Of Elements In A Single Tweet -- Dinesh has recently zeroed in on pencil-based achievements.


Though his Tallest Pencil Tower and Most Pencils Held in Hand feats were impressive, one record stands alone, measuring 9.8 OMGs on the Internet Impact Scale. This record is Most Pencils Fit In Mouth At Once.


Dinesh, or "Maximouth" as he is now known, crammed 92 sticks of wood and graphite into his cavernous maw. Of particular distinction is his placement technique: his initial group insertion of approximately 85 pencils was swiftly followed by individual additions on all sides of his gob.


Watch his rubber lips in action in this eye-popping video:
 Oh, and the fact that he wears aviator sunglasses for the entirety of the record? Bad-ass.



Reckon your mouth is more malleable than Dinesh's? Beat this world record by submitting a video at URDB.org.

Written by Ella Morton, a writer, actor and the host of Rocketboom NYC, a weekly web show about New York's vibrant people and places.