Prabhat Koli is now the world’s youngest Oceans Seven swimmer in an exclusive club of just 22 members.

He’s been there and done it again. But this time, with a giant leap which many have dreamed of achieving but at which very few have succeeded. For over a decade-and-a half, becoming the youngest athlete in the world to complete the Oceans Seven Challenge.

On 1 March, India’s leading open-water, long distance swimmer, Prabhat Koli (23), etched yet another milestone in his illustrious swimming career spanning 15 years. He swam across Cook Strait from the South Island to the North Island in New Zealand on 1 March and became the youngest athlete in the world to complete the Oceans Seven Challenge.

This article makes it sound easy, but it was anything but that. Prabhat clocked 8 hours and 41 minutes to cross the 28 km distance amid rough weather in 15 degree temperature. It was not the furthest distance he has covered in his swims, but this one carried the burden of an earlier failure. He had attempted it in 2020 during the pandemic. High winds and turbulent water caused his coach Minty-Gravett to abort the swim just short of his goal, after struggling for 8 hours 24 minutes. This time, Prabhat did not fail.

When he climbed the rocks at the end, Prabhat became the 22nd swimmer in the world to accomplish the rare distinction.

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With 37 teeth in his mouth, Vijay Kumar V.A. from Bangalore holds the Guinness World Record for ‘The man with the most teeth’. He has five more than the average person and more than anyone else in the world. Vijay explains that there are some disadvantages to having so many teeth, one being that he often bites his tongue!

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Dolls are synonymous with small girls as they graduate usually to teddy bears with their growing age. However, with some, dolls could be a lasting obsession, but very rarely does such an obsession lead to a global recognition with twelve Guinness World Record certifications! Meet Shivali Johri Srivastava — holder of 12 unusual world records.

It all started with a news item that a lady from the United Arab Emirates had established a world record for collecting 1145 quilled dolls. The girl, a potential computer science engineer, was motivated to work beyond her college curriculum to outdo the Arab lady. Her mother too joined the enthusiastic daughter in making paper dolls and they earned the first Guinness World Record certification jointly, on 9 June 2016 by putting up 1,251 different dolls. Although they had established a new world record, it was in a different way and did not actually better the record of the Arab lady.

The first certification was a good impetus for the family to undertake the task of bettering the world record of quilled dolls. It was now Shivali, mother Kavita and father Anil, all working together to set a new world record. They finally earned a Guinness World Record certification by putting up a display of 2,200 quilled dolls on Children’s Day 2019 at Hyderabad, improving upon the number of 1145 which was the impetus for all that followed.

A lot more happened between the intervening periods of these two world records. There were as many as eight world record certifications in this period as the field of quilled dolls was not the only field in which the family was at work. On 29 April 2017, the mother-daughter duo put up a show of 7,011 quilled flowers to earn their second certification for a Guinness World Record. On 6 September 2017, the family exhibited a total of 2,111 different dolls with Shivali receiving her third certification.

On 23 June 2018, after more than nine months of effort, Shivali and her mother put up a show of 3,501 origami whales. The family also put up 2,100 origami penguins. Consequently, for the first time, Shivali was the recipient of two certificates on the same day; testifying her having jointly established two world records on the same day. 2019 was a year of seven world records.

Born in Lucknow (on 29 March 1999), Shivali was quite unlike other girls of her age. Her first choice for any possession was neither dolls nor toys but crayons. Later, as a lower kindergarten student at the Pallavi Model School, Hyderabad, she found a place on the cover of the school magazine, dressed as a sunflower, in the fancy dress competition.

Her parents recollect how Shivali’s first show of talent for art came to be exhibited on the walls of their house. However, her first official recognition came when as a student of the first standard Shivali won a painting competition arranged for children at the Lucknow Zoo. It was an all-age group competition and their daughter was the youngest in the lot.

Having gone to buy a burger at a Mall in Lucknow, Shivali stumbled upon a drawing competition and within 30 minutes she completed her assignment. Her parents did not see any prospect of their daughter winning any prize in the competition. When the results were declared, they were in for a surprise; the third prize went to a boy of the tenth standard, the second prize to a girl from the eighth standard and the first prize to the second standard student, Shivali Srivastava! The prize for Shivali was a Sony music system, but she wanted to exchange it for the participation prize given to the other children: a set of 12 coloured sketch pens; this time her parents had to prevail.

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We know that music is a language in itself and transcends the boundary of actual languages. But what if you knew of a singer who can do a lot more? We’re catching up with Suchetha Satish, the 12-year-old wonder who is taking the musical community by storm having shattered two world records by singing in over 100 languages at the same concert!

Suchetha is originally from Kerala and resides in Dubai with her parents who moved to the UAE in 1999. On 25 January 2018, she stunned the audience at an event at the Indian Consulate in Dubai by singing in 102 languages for 6 hours and 15 minutes. In addition to being a stellar singer, Suchetha is also an excellent dancer and choreographs her own performances. When asked about her hobbies, she says that she enjoys reading, art and craft, and not surprisingly, teaching herself to read new languages.

Here’s a young girl who loves to sing and is excited to have started the eighth grade at the Indian High School, Dubai. But there is so much more to her that we are delighted to find out about.

TTT: When did your passion for music begin?
SS: Well, my passion for music started quite early. I have been performing on stage since the age of 3 and have been training formally since I was 4. I started with Carnatic music from Smt. Annie Dominic and since about 5 years, I have also been learning from Guru Sujatha Harish Kumar. I have recently appeared for the level 3 exams in Hindustani music. I am learning to play the keyboard as well as the guitar.

TTT: Tell us how you came to sing in all those languages!
SS: My mother tongue is Malayalam, so I could sing in it already. My father’s friend, a Japanese dermatologist, came to Dubai a year ago. When she came home, she sang a Japanese song. I liked it very much and learnt it. So initially, apart from Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil and English, I knew songs in Japanese and Arabic. Then I learned a Tagalog song as UAE has many Filipino residents.

TTT: How long does it take for you to learn a song in a foreign language? Which are the easiest languages and the toughest ones?
SS: If I like a song, I can learn it pretty quickly! The easiest ones are in Malayalam and Hindi while the tough ones are in German, French, Xhosa, etc.

TTT: Family is the greatest source of strength for most of us. Tell us about your family.
SS: My father, Dr. T. C. Satish, is a specialist dermatologist and my mother, Sumitha Ayilliath, is a lecturer by profession and currently a homemaker. My brother, Sushant, is in India preparing for the medical entrance exams. My family helped me select the songs and ensure that the lyrics are age appropriate.

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A strawberry and belonging to the Japanese variety Amaou, weighing a whopping 250 grams with an approximate height of 8 cm, length of 12 cm and circumference of 25 to 30 cm. has won the Guinness World Records title for the heaviest strawberry. Mutations can occur for a variety of reasons; in this case, multiple berries have grown and fused together to form one single large strawberry.

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