The Man Who Wanted to Wed 500 Times

Holder of world records for the most flags tattooed on his body, most straws stuffed in his mouth and longest non-stop scooter journey ever, Guinness Rishi explains his need to break and set new records

In 1980, I was asked by my company to cover the length and breadth of India on a Luna 50 cc moped. I worked for an auto parts company, Novelty Auto Traders, and was asked to promote our products on the journey. I went pretty much everywhere I could, Leh-Ladakh-Kashmir to Kanyakumari. As this was before the age of the internet, I wasn’t sure where the eastern- and western-most tips of the country lay. I spent five months on the moped and got quite a bit of newspaper attention. That was when the idea of breaking a record came to mind.

Some journalists told me that this was the longest journey undertaken on a moped, possibly in the world. I didn’t know much about these things then, but I was fired up by the attention. Neighbours stopped by, journalists visited, extended family members called on me. It wasn’t the sort of life I’d had.

By 1983, however, the calls had stopped. The old, dreary rhythm was creeping back in. The only difference was, my sons now had jobs—good ones too. They already earned as much as I did after 25 years of service. They didn’t need me anymore. It was disconcerting to see how little I amounted to.

My mind was made up by 1986: I would attempt the record for the longest non-stop scooter ride. I had started keeping track of world records in newspapers, I even bought some copies of the Guinness Book of World Records. The current record at the time was 160 hours. I aimed to overtake that, but some months later, a new record was set at 360 hours. Before long, the bar was raised to 500 hours and then 560 hours. I then realised that I had to go much, much further if I wanted my effort to endure. I settled on 1,000 hours, and my wife said 1,001 was auspicious.

This required plenty of preparation. It meant I couldn’t stop to refuel, eat, go to the toilet, or change a flat tyre. I took the help of two people, Amarjit Singh and Navjot Chaddha. Then I redesigned the scooter—a regular machine cannot pull off a non-stop haul of 1,001 hours. My years in the auto parts business came handy. A sidecar was attached to the scooter, where two people could sit and fix a flat or some other emergency.

By 1990, we were ready. We paid Rs 50,000 to rent Saras Bagh Road in Pune for six weeks so that we wouldn’t have to deal with traffic. Another Rs 2 lakh was spent in covering the road with a special rubber to minimise the possibility of a flat tyre. The total cost of the project was Rs 15-16 lakh. We got some sponsors like Raymond and the scooter company Kinetic Honda [the company later became Kinetic, and has since been acquired by Mahindra & Mahindra].

We completed the task in 42 days and 42 nights—30,965 km in 1,001 hours. Each of us rode the scooter for two hours, then we’d slip off while somebody else jumped onto the rear seat, and rested for four hours. During those 42 days, I gave an interview nearly every day. Even TV people came, which was a big deal then. That was my first taste of a Guinness record. That record, in fact, still stands unbroken.

I wrote to the Guinness Book of World Records in 1991 and asked permission to use their name. They granted me consent and I drew up affidavits to change my name from Har Prakash Rishi to Guinness Rishi. I liked it.

I knew I had to keep setting records to stay in the market. In 1991, I set up the Guinness Recordbreakers Society of India and made my wife donate a half-inch-by-half-inch plot of land to the society. This is the world’s smallest gift deed. I did quite some research for this. The world’s smallest land sale involved a one-inch-by-one-inch plot, but the Indian Government did not allow the sale of such tiny crumbs of land. So I got a gift agreement drawn up by a lawyer. I have also given out the ground floor and first floor of the building I live in on a billion-year lease. This is the world’s longest lease agreement. I also have the world’s longest will, at 489 pages, and my wife, the shortest: just two words that mean ‘to my sons’. I have worn 234 T-shirts simultaneously, and another time I wore 99 socks on one foot. These are all records.

I hold, in fact, 22 genuine world records but I haven’t been recognised for them all. The Guinness people want money; if you send a cheque for £450, they will send you a certificate within three days of your writing the cheque. But why should I pay money for something I have accomplished?

Officially, I have held only five Guinness records. My second record, in 2001, was for the longest pizza delivery. I ordered a Domino’s pizza in Delhi and took it to the US where my son stays, and delivered it to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum in San Francisco. This record has been eclipsed.

In 2001, I also secured a record for stuffing the most number of straws in my mouth. I had lost my teeth to pyorrhoea in 1988. I reckoned I might as well make use of this to achieve something for my country. By this time, I was well versed with Guinness guidelines and I made sure the straws, the hollow kind used for sipping drinks, were of the required 0.65 cm width. In 2011, I performed the feat before a live television audience for the show Guinness World Records: Ab India Todega, hosted by Preity Zinta.

The third Guinness record was in 2001 when I adopted my brother-in-law Ravinder Kumar Vig as my child. At 61 years, seven months and 22 days, he was then the world’s oldest adoptee. The record was in his name, but the idea was mine. This record was broken two years ago.

Since 2009, I have been tattooing the flags and maps of various countries on my body. I started with seven flags on my forehead. At present, I have 366 flags tattooed: this is a Guinness record for the most number of flags inked on a body. It has cost me Rs 4 lakh to get them done, and I plan to spend Rs 6 lakh more to get flags inscribed in the shape of the letters ‘Let Us Unite Against Terrorism’. This is my unique anti-terror campaign, but my younger son has offered me Rs 10 lakh to get the tattoos removed. My wife refuses to walk with me in public. When we have to attend a ceremony together, she asks me to leave the house five minutes after her. If she had cooperated, I could have attempted many more records. Like getting married 500 times. It’s just a ceremony; any priest would agree.

It hurts me. People say, “Cartoon ja raha hai, pagal ja raha hai (There goes a cartoon, there goes a lunatic).” But my records have given me an identity.

I wish the record book organisations were not so erratic. The Guinness guys are out to make money, but at least they are systematic, and they promote their own country’s talent. Limca Book of Records is totally haphazard. I have countless certificates from them, but they have never mentioned my accomplishments in the book. Last year, I wrote to The Coca-Cola Company president threatening to sue it for $5 million. The company sent a lackey to calm me down, but I told him: “Either you give me $5 million or a cheque for one naya paisa. Then I can claim the world’s smallest compensation.”

As told to Sohini Chattopadhyay

About The Author

Guinness Rishi