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He wants to walk 15,000 km. backwards
SEVENTY YEARS ago, a Texan, 37-year-old Plennie L.Wingo, impressed the Guinness Book of World Records with a unique feat: Reverse Pedestrianism. Walking backwards for a mindboggling 12,875 km., his trailblazing achievement had the world look up and take notice. Seven decades later, an Indian, D. Munirayappan, alias Raju has begun a journey to break that long-standing record.
Plennie Wingo walked from Santa Monica, California, to Istanbul in Turkey. Raju's walkathon will take him through 21 States, covering 15,000 km.
But before that, he wants to break Wingo's time record as well. ``I want to cover 12,875 km in one year.'' Wingo, incidentally, started his journey on April 15, 1931 and ended it on October 24, 1932.Raju's big walk began on January 28 from his native Salem in Tamil Nadu.
Now in Bangalore, having already covered 220 km., Raju wants to keep up the speed.
``I have come alone, without any friends or funds. It would be great if the permission is given at the places I pass through before I reach there.'' That, he says, would help him complete his mission of breaking the time record. ``That way, I can overcome Wingo's record in 10 months,'' says he. But breaking the Guinness record is not the only mission of Raju. AIDS awareness, economic development of the nation, and public hygiene are also high on this ex-Air Force personnel and body-building coach's priority list.
For the record, Raju has some remarkable feats to his credit. He could completely clear the husk of a coconut in 34 seconds flat. On January 16, last year, he lifted a 32-kg. gas cylinder with his bare teeth. Raju also claims to pack enough energy in his teeth to lift a 36-kg. bicycle in the air by simply holding it with his molars. Over the next year, Raju, with his strictly calorified diet, has planned to cover 21 States: After Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, his walkathon will take him through Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkand, Orrisa, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. An inter-continental walk is next on his agenda. But only if the Government helps.
By Rasheed Kappan
Photo: K.Bhagya Prakash
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Hyderabad
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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