I am writing this blog post my successful completion of 168 hours of being on-air continuously which has got me a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
At present, I feel all happy and excited to have set a new world record, but getting here was not an easy journey, it involved lots of preparation from my side and lots of help from my colleagues. Here’s a brief description of how I went about it.
The very thought of getting my name registered in the Guinness records came to my mind when I completed 92.7 hours of a jockeying marathon during August 2007. That’s when I decided that I would some day break the Guinness record (at that time I was not even sure of who held the record and how many hours it had been, but I just wanted to break it!) To my surprise, the opportunity came the next year itself (2008) when my station asked me if I wished to attempt a Guinness record, and my answer immediately was yes!…. Well, now it was easier said than done because the Guinness record requires lots of preparations and adhering to lots of rules and regulations.
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Together with my National and Regional teams, I got some basic info about the Guinness records to start with. I got to know who held the record (now of course, I hold it). Post updating my knowledge, I went on to prepare myself for the attempt and left the other formalities like getting rules and regulations and logistics bit for my colleagues to organize. First and foremost, I went for a complete health check up, not only to satisfy the Guinness people but to satisfy myself that I was fit for the attempt. I was happy when the doctor certified me fit for the attempt.
My colleagues meanwhile got all the details and rules and regulations required from the Guinness officials; while I went on to follow the diet and exercises to prepare myself for the attempt. All the efforts (mine and the entire Big FM team’s) were synced towards one goal and that was Guinness.
Before D Day, that was 21 August 2008, I went through all the rules and regulations – like how many RJ links, how many songs and the rest time which will be available etc. My Chennai team got hold of celebrities to give me company during my show. A lot of witnesses were also gathered who would have to vouch for my attempt. There were video recordings on a 24/7 basis to monitor my performance and hospital tie ups, where a doctor was assigned to take care of my health.
Finally, backed with all the arms and ammunition (knowledge, preparations, support of listeners, friends and colleagues and prayers) I went for the assault at 5 am on 21 August 2008. Throughout my attempt till 26 August 2008, when I broke the record of 135 hours, I had loads of celebrities coming in to my studio to wish me. There were lots of listeners who gathered to meet me and the media came out with articles about the attempt, which gave me the energy to attempt and complete the record.
On 26 August 2008, 8 pm I was in tears as I had broken the record of 135 hours set by an Italian RJ, and I got the privilege to interact with him on-air, where in I told him that I have broken his record. As I completed 135 hours, there were listeners around my office who started celebrating and I took part in their celebration for a few minutes, post which, I returned to the studio to continue RJing as I had set in my mind that I would set a record of 150 hours.
On 27 August 2008, when I was completing 150 hours, I still had energy left in me to go further and I went on to complete 168 hours on 28 August 2008 at 5 am.
Now that I’ve set a record which I am sure that at some point of time someone will try and break, but the learnings throughout these 168 hours have to be mentioned. Patience, aggressiveness, competitiveness and the urge to achieve were a few traits which I learned from this entire attempt.
