CHENNAI: By night, Vincent Jebaraj is your average call-centre employee. Except for an ever-so-tiny ponytail, he would fit perfectly into any BPO office, handling a team of tele-callers through the night. Very few would suspect that this man might become a Guinness record holder if only he can talk his way through a web-radio show for 16 minutes, while suspended at a height of 20 feet from a crane, upside down. “The idea came to me about a year ago when I was browsing through the Guinness Book of World Records website last December,” recalls Vincent, who had just been web RJing for about a year with a Christian radio network.After he began RJing online because he felt it reached a much larger audience, he moved from Inbam FM to Iraiisai — a New Zealand-based Christian radio service where he did three shows every week. “My most popular show was called Turning Point for which I would receive mails from places as far as Canada, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand. In fact, my Indian listeners in India are very few,” he reveals. The show was believed to have been accessed by listeners in 72 countries and Vincent was a star of sorts. And then, the record idea happened.Apparently, he saw the categories of records set by people RJing for the longest time and was a little crestfallen because there was an undisputed record holder called Stefano Venneri. “Even when RJ Dhina broke his (Venneri’s) record, he managed to surpass it again within a month,” he adds. Then, he noticed a small uncontested record, also held by Venneri. “He had done a show for 15 mins 26 secs, while hanging upside down from a height of 15 feet. Then I knew, this is what I was meant to do,” says the web Radio Jockey. He applied for the record and was approved almost immediately — thus the year long preparation began.“He had to shed about 20 kilos to reach this weight (70 kgs),” says his wife. Vincent himself admits to being a little “chubby” earlier. The gym sessions, aside from the cardio and workouts also involved training with a fireball that helps the vertebrae stretch and get accustomed to intense pressure. “The training has always stressed on the ability to keep talking, despite the stress on the body,” he adds. From November, he began the long haul — being suspended from a pulley at home in a special harness, to see if he could maintain consciousness. “So far, he has only been able to do about 15 mins, but we are confident that he will make the 25 mins he is aiming for,” says his wife.Though the Guinness defines “suspended upside down” as 50 cm from the ground, Vincent is a stickler for bettering Venneri’s record. He is planning to hang upside down from a crane at a height of 20 feet and do a 25-minute show live, using a console kept on a 15 foot pedestal. With three protectors and fail safe mechanisms, he has little to fear at the Jessie Moses School when he makes the attempt on December 10. His only inspiration, he says is to support the 28 children born with HIV from the Shelter Trust. Luckily for him, his listeners were so inspired by the attempt that they have contributed money from across the globe to sponsor this.
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