Guinness Record Holder Dies Performing Stunt Over Teesta River

Diptendu Dutta/Agence France-Presse â€" Getty Images Sailendra Nath Roy, a Guinness World Record holder, attempting to cross the river Teesta on the outskirts of Siliguri in West Bengal on Sunday.

Year after year, stunt after stunt, Indians have had their names imprinted in the Guinness Book of World Records, that official chronicler of human achievement that is often the gatekeeper of the eclectic and the bizarre. One Indian man has the world’s longest mustache, while another was once lauded for the world’s longest fingernails. Yet another struggled to retain his records in the book by attempting all sorts of titles: from writing on a grain of rice to stacking the tallest single column of coins.

Diptendu Dutta/Agence France-Presse â€" Getty ImagesMr. Roy pulled a “toy train” with his ponytail in Siliguri, West Bengal, on Sept. 17, 2012.

That drive to outdo and maintain their claim to fame took a tragic turn on Sunday when record-holder Sailendra Nath Roy, celebrated for pulling a “toy train” with his ponytail, died while performing another rope stunt over the turbulent Teesta River in West Bengal. Mr. Roy was crossing the water by hanging from a pulley tied to his hair when the crank stuck and he reportedly suffered a heart attack. Although he was later pulled to shore by spectators, doctors pronounced him dead.

“His wife used to urge him to quit doing dangerous stunts. Mr Roy convinced her that crossing the Teesta river would be his last. Unfortunately, that became his last stunt,” an unnamed friend of Mr. Roy told the BBC. A spokesman from Guinness had no immediate comment on Mr. Roy’s death.

It’s a fate others have met while attempting to set records around the world, although not necessarily for Guinness.

India’s obsession with setting Guinness records is strong that in 2012, Guinness established an “official” presence in India, one of just a handful outside the company’s London headquarters. Indians submitted the third-largest number of record applications in 2011, Guinness said, behind the United States and United Kingdom.

Guinness Records was established in 1951 by Sir Hugh Beaver, the chairman of Guinness Brewery. He was hunting in County Wexford, Ireland, when he missed a shot at a golden plover. Sir Hugh wondered if the plover was the fastest game bird in Europe but couldn’t find the answer in a reference book. In 1954, Sir Hugh invited sports journalists to compile a book of records; the first U.K. edition was released a year later and became a Christmas best seller. The first U.S. edition followed in 1956. 

This year, the Indians featured in book include the world’s shortest living woman, Jyoti Amge,  all of 62.8 centimeters, or just over 2 feet. Indians who registered records in earlier years include Shakuntala Devi, who earned a place in the 1982 edition by correctly multiplying two 13-digit numbers in 28 seconds, and a 9-year-old from Karnataka who made the list in 2006 for being the youngest director of a professionally made feature length film.

India, as a country, also holds several records. These include the much touted title of “world’s largest democracy,” most centuries scored in international cricket and the place with the highest rainfall, annually.