Meeting Vijaya Ghose - the record keeper

As the longstanding editor of India's foremost records compendium, Vijaya Ghose's own life is no less eventful than those who vie for a spot in the Limca Book of Records (LBR). For 26 years running, she's witnessed what many consider bizarre, even wasteful stabs at glory. With a single measuring tape pull, count, or stopwatch click, she can make or break one's dreams of recognition. But Ghose is a judge who passes no judgment.

"I'm often derisively asked 'What record is this?' about those who collect clipped nails or stand on a Swiss Ball for hours. Can I do what they do? No. It teaches you humility," she says with unwavering appreciation. "Everyone has talent that should be nurtured."

Like that of Mumbai's Kishor Gordhandas, who appeared in the inaugural LBR in 1990 as the Indian with the largest assortment of playing cards. Or Bangalore engineer Dr. Ramesh Babu made it to the book three years later for flying a kite with the longest tail.

The duo became LBR fixtures for over two decades, with Gordhandas' record 5,000 collections – including the world's finest hand-painted Indian Ganjifa cards – remaining intact after his death in 2012. Babu, meanwhile, is on his 51st record. From fastest puri making and gift wrapping to the most finely chopped vegetable and longest scientific lecture, there's little he hasn't done to become an LBR champ.

"They never missed being featured every year. Ramesh Babu's records are thorough and systematically done. It's a pleasure to look at the documents he sends," smiles Ghose. "There's also Shripad Vaidya's novel records on innovations. And BB Nayak's entries for physical feats."

Her enthusiasm hasn't waned over the years. The 78-year-old oversees around 50 record applications that come in daily for consideration and works near-12 hour shifts even today.

Beginnings
Ghose was born in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh at the height at of the independence movement. Her freedom fighter grandfather ran an underground press and deployed his children, including her mother, to stick anti-British pamphlets on walls in the dead of night. On August 15, 1947, Ghose and her family were in Chowpatty, Mumbai. "The crowds were deliriously happy, listening to leaders delivering speeches. Even in my child's mind, I knew it was a historic moment."

In subsequent years, Ghose worked with iconic editor Rosalind Wilson of Target magazine before moving to India Today Group as children's books editor. It was during this stint that she got a call from journalist-turned communications consultant Dilip Cherian. Parle Agro's Ramesh Chauhan (now with Parle Bisleri), she was told, wanted her to edit a one-stop record book to chronicle human endeavour and Indians in all extremes. The book would also have human interest stories and tidbits about an India not many knew about, called 'Human Story' and 'This India', respectively. Sourced from the National Innovation Foundation, news clippings and magazines such as Civil Society and The Better India, they are LBR's most popular chapters – the differentiating factors between LBR and Guinness World Records.

That LBR succeeded the way it did stunned Ghose. Its first edition flew off shelves in days, and it was eventually brought under the aegis of Coca-Cola India when Parle sold Limca to the soft drinks giant. As LBR's popularity and reputation surged, so did the number of applications for record setting. To deal with this, the tome, which repeated records for up to three years, now only gave platform to new records unless there were 'updates'. Each edition now has 10,000 records ensconced in its pages.

Rising to the challenges
The juggernaut seemingly decelerated in 2007 when its editor had a stroke that left her speech-impaired. "I considered quitting, then thought, 'Why? My mind and memory are intact. As they say, speech is in the mind'," says the septuagenarian.

But her worst blow had come 10 years earlier in 1997, when son Sanjoy Ghose, a social worker who started Bikaner's URMUL Trust, was abducted and killed by ULFA militants in Majuli, Assam. His body was never found. Ghose's husband, who never recovered from the tragedy, passed away last year.

Professional challenges aren't alien either. Hers is a small team of six, and they rely on consultants well-versed in their fields to provide interesting information for the book. She'd love to get a bigger research team, but resources, even for an e-book version of LBR, are tight.

The hurdles don't deter her. An ardent animal lover (she rescues cockatoos, mynahs, owls and squirrels) who wakes at 2:45am to cook for and feed stray dogs, she's determined to renew LBR's Animal Welfare chapter. Until then, Vijaya Ghose remains dedicated to showcasing the eccentric, the wondrous and the perseverant. She writes, on the LBR site:

I am getting smaller entries in the Human Being section of the Human Story chapter. I want to feature the tallest man and woman, large ears, biggest feet, widest chest, longest nose and more interesting people.

Can you help?