[RiderZone]

A few months ago, I came across this photo in a Whatsapp group, a record for the fastest ride on the Golden Quadrilateral. I thought to myself, "It's just another one of those insecure Indians who will do practically anything to impress random internet strangers", and forgot about it.



Some time after that, I saw this one, a "certificate" for traveling from Mumbai to Lakshadweep, and I was like "Wow, this is a new level of desperate", but quickly moved on.



Recently, this came up, "Appreciation" for riding from Bangalore Bus Stand, to Mangalore Bus Stand, and back to Bangalore Bus Stand.



No, astonishingly, I'm not kidding. Below is the detailed description of what Mr. Amith Kumar has been "appreciated" for.



The common thread in all of this weirdness, was India Book of Records.

The world of motorcycles is, unfortunately, full of absolute idiots. In most cases it's just better to completely ignore their existence, and ride your rides. The more you talk about these dumbsters, the more publicity they get, which is the only thing they want, negative or positive.

But this was just too good, too juicy. I really wanted to understand what kind of a person would want to get these meaningless "records" and "certificates", but more importantly, what kind of an organization would give out such hilariously stupid pieces of paper.

My initial plan was to do a light-hearted, Last-Week-Tonight-style exposè on India Book of Records, but the deeper I went into this seemingly harmless scam, the darker it got.

This is the story of why India Book of Records is a joke, but not a funny one.

The beginning

My first idea was quite simple, let's submit something so ridiculous for a record, that if it gets approved, it'll essentially destroy the credibility of India Book of Records once and for all. To that end, I went to India Book of Records website to sniff it out.

The website contains guidelines about how to claim a record, nothing special there. There's a Pro Service section as well, naturally, which basically says that you pay us money, and we'll get you into some newspapers and stuff. Hero MotoCorp of course got in on the action, and got a record for "Maximum number of families participating in a tree plantation drive", which apparently took them only 10 minutes.



If you go to their About Us section, there's the usual marketing word salad. One interesting thing there is the "Adjudicators" section, they claim to have 50 of them. The random faces showing up in there don't exactly inspire confidence in their "adjudication" abilities however.

While looking into the people there, stumbled upon this gem, dude called Pradeep Peter Joseph. A quick Facebook search showed his Facebook profile as well, where he is called "Dr" Pradeep Joseph, and says that he had attended something called "World Records University".

If you go to the website for World Records University, at the very bottom, it lists their contact addresses. Imagine the lack of my surprise, when their India office address turned out to be the same as that of India Book of Records. Even more hilarious, a search for their UK address returns a result from the Panama Papers, which means that the address has some relation to large scale money laundering. I doubt World Records University are such a big player however, that address is most likely just a dummy one that anyone can rent.

Returning to our esteemed adjudicator, Dr Pradeep Joseph, it appears that he attended a "university" run by the same organization where he works, and happily calls himself a doctor based on a "degree" he got there. He will probably be unhappy to note this disclaimer buried inside the World Records University's own website, which basically says "Ignore us, we're fake".



This is funny

Sure, who cares that there's a fake university with the earth-shattering aim of "grooming" future record holders? How does it matter if a bald guy earns some self-confidence from this fake university's fake degree? You're right, it doesn't.

I had gone to the India Book of Records website to actually see what kind of records they were already approving, and had found myself spending days on this other rabbit hole of the World Records University. Let's get back on track, what's the most ridiculous record I can submit to them?

Turns out, there's nothing, absolutely nothing that these people won't certify. I bet if I submit a record for breathing regularly since the last 32 years, they'll approve it. Look at this one for example, how could I possibly think of a record more silly than this?

Some quick asking around, and got to know that India Book of Records will give you a record for anything. All it takes, is 6000 bucks.

With that info, I wanted to know how much money have they already made. On their website, I went to a single section, "Human Story". Each page on this section contains 10 record attempts. The total number of pages in Human Story alone is 108. That's 1080 records, nearly 65 Lacs.

There are 9 other sections that I did not check. This is clearly a lucrative multi-crore "business".

This is a genius scam, isn't it? People want to feel like they've achieved something in life, but don't want to make any effort to achieve something in life. No problemo, give us money, and we'll make it look like you've achieved something in life. Would you like a complimentary Ph.D with that?

It's a victimless crime really, people pay money for all sorts of things just to feel a bit superior, that's the entire business model for Apple. At this point I was nearly in awe of whoever came up with the idea, but that didn't last long.

This is not funny

Dr. Biswaroop Roy Chowdhury is listed as the Chief Editor on the India Book of Records site. Neerja Roy Chowdhury is the Managing Editor. Safe to say that it's Biswaroop who's the brains behind the operation. Who is this dude?

The story turned dark with the very first Google search result for his name. The BBC article sums up the man and his rather disgusting life as follows:

1. He gained millions of online followers by claiming that Covid vaccine is useless, and only his cure of a diet plan containing fruits and vegetables can save you
2. That same diet plan also saves you from Diabetes and AIDS, while simultaneously claiming that AIDS is not real
3. The diet plan costs 500 bucks, although he does quite openly state “My intention is, if a patient comes to me once, they should never return again. It’s a permanent treatment,”
4. If you have breathing difficulties from Covid, sit in front of a fan to get more oxygen
5. Face masks will make you ill
6. He got his "PHD in diabetes" from Alliance International University, Zambia, no comments necessary there

Thankfully, he was kicked out of most social media platforms for spreading Covid misinformation, but still keeps at it via WhatsApp and Telegram. Based on the screenshot below of his Youtube channel, he really had a video titled "Surgery @Home".



The article also mentions that Biswaroop also owns "Asia Book of Records". At this point there were more important things than scam records, so I did not look into this at all. He also somehow managed to meet Harsh Vardhan, the health minister, and used the photo op to legitimize his insane claims even more, but the incompetence of this govt. is not in the scope of this piece either.

His Wikipedia page tells a similar story. He also sells a number of books like this one claiming to cure diabetes in 72 hours, or this one that talks about bringing the dead back to life, or this one that claims HIV is a lie.

Things got darker still. A criminal complaint against him was filed by a person, whose mother attended one of Biswaroop's diabetes events, where her diabetes medication was taken away and locked in a box. She died.

To take money from willing individuals for the illusion of a record is one thing, to actively cause pain and suffering to vulnerable people for profit is a whole other dimension of evil.

What can I do?

Fraudsters are everywhere, there's nothing I can do about them. I am surprised that Amazon sells his entire catalogue of books, but then again it's Amazon, they have been caught selling radioactive wrist bands. A sustained pressure campaign could get the cancer that's Biswaroop's books out of major online retailers like Amazon/Flipkart/Google Play Store, but I'm not on social media, and I'm not climbing down into that sewer again to "fight the system from within".

All I think we can really do, is make the concept of an "India Book of Records" record radioactive. Whenever someone proudly shares that they've got this certificate from them, laugh out loud, tell them that they've been scammed, scammed by an dude who really, genuinely claims that cardiologists are fraudsters.

Will it make any real difference? Probably not. If by some miracle India Book of Records is no longer profitable, Biswaroop will just shut it down and start a new grift. The man is clearly at peace with literally killing people, there's no scam that's beneath him.

If you are a biker who, for some reason, really wants a certificate for riding from one bus stand to another bus stand, please go to your local market, find the guy who sells certificates and medals, and get yourself one for a fraction of the cost of what Biswaroop is charging. Both are equal in value, which is zero, but at least one is not actively paying a man to destroy the lives of others.

In any case, someone needs to do a K2K ride to raise awareness about how evil India Book of Records is, then submit that ride to India Book of Records. I bet they'll "appreciate" it.

[GTO]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage today

[Axe77]

Wow! This is incredible. I still remember the Guiness Book of Records while growing up and we actually had a credible Indian equivalent of it called Limca Book of Records. That was actually a genuine publication and it actually felt similar to the World Records group. You had usual freaky stuff like longest beard, fingernails to other stuff as well. Those guys actually ran it properly without any publicity angle or money making from the record holders. It was a genuine records publication.

Originally Posted by RiderZone

The world of motorcycles is, unfortunately, full of absolute idiots. In most cases it's just better to completely ignore their existence, and ride your rides. The more you talk about these dumbsters, the more publicity they get, which is the only thing they want, negative or positive.

Sadly I have to agree with this statement. You need to cherry pick and find your like minded riding companions to enjoy this hobby. Just too many tools in the two wheeler world right from the scooty drag racers to the 250kmph+ local Rossis on their Superbikes and everything in between.

On the book / site itself:
It is really sad that this sham is being run by clearly dubious characters and impressive that you have gone to such lengths to expose the truth about them. Following this unique thread for whatever else emerges.

[Dr.AD]

This is really sad, but I am not surprised. Given the kind of records I saw, it was obvious this was some kind of a "paid record".

Why am I not surprised? Because in last 3-4 years I have seen plenty of such "paid achievements". I am in the middle of the start-up ecosystem since 2017 (I run my small startup), and my emails are flooded every day by offers of such "paid awards". There are all kind of promotional activities and awards on payment basis. You can pay and get awards such as "ABC country's Top N startups in XYZ field", "Most emerging N startups in ABC region and XYZ field", "Top N CEOs in Startups" and so on... (these titles are hypothetical, but you get the drift). And there are organizations who seem to be doing only this as their main business (promotional awards) and making tons of money in this process.

Thankfully, there are still many genuine awards and genuine startup competitions. These genuine programs and awards are mostly run by top MNCs and top industry bodies. They do a great job of detailed selections, interviews, technical deep drive, verification and then final selections. However, unfortunately, those few good and genuine awards get lost in the sea of such fake "paid awards", and it is not easy for a neutral observer to know which award is genuine and which is fake.

[am1m]

Thanks for posting, your effort to dig into the details is amazing!

Sadly, there is an audience for anything, no matter how outrageous and most people will just believe anything they read online.

[drivingmelody]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Wow! This is incredible. I still remember the Guiness Book of Records while growing up and we actually had a credible Indian equivalent of it called Limca Book of Records. That was actually a genuine publication and it actually felt similar to the World Records group

Looks like Limca book of records still gets published under the coco-cola umbrella.

https://www.coca-colaindia.com/limca...of-records#ath

[TheHelix0202]

Such an interesting thread to kick start the day. It’s such a curious thing, that people do all sorts of things for money. This kinda scam makes me want to further probe into similar rabbit holes…

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by RiderZone

The BBC article sums up the man and his rather disgusting life as follows.

I read about him not too long ago and it was on BBC. Honestly; how is he is not behind bars for spreading so much misinformation!

Sad state of affairs on our book of records and the folks who run it. How can you not have any shame about doing something like this.

[srini1785]

I don't know about others but some feats are worth a medal:

1. I must confess this kid is far superior to me in sea creature identification:

https://indiabookofrecords.in/maximu...fied-by-a-kid/

2. I did try holding my thumb backward like this kid

https://indiabookofrecords.in/longes...ward-position/

and must confess i could not go beyond 35 sec (It hurts now). So way to go kid.

and i am applying for setting the record for spotting the maximum number of morons on the road in a single way trip : Record stands at 17.

I personally know of a Professor in a reputed institute who has around 35 Guinness record to his credit and sample one of his : Maximum number of postal envelops done in a minute.

[rahulskumar]

Looking at the trend, even people travelling in Mumbai local will be eligible to apply 😄

There are many bhpians who are adventurous and explore places just to keep these memories etched in our heart. I believe very few travelogues might be getting penned down as many like me don’t know how to translate these feelings into words

[PGA]

Last year a suited executive from one of the world's top Agri inputs firm visited me. The guy was seemingly well educated and well travelled. As Covid was foremost on the mind, the gentleman forgot to sell me his products but kept on harping on theories of Dr Biswaroop Roy Choudhary, going to an extent of stating that he is coming back from his home in UP after performing final rites of two close relatives, yet he believes Dr Biswaroop more than what science/Govt states. Such is the capacity of humans in today's world to delude themselves. Sometimes I believe below mentioned is 100% true, to an extent India Book of Record's is an outcome of times and technology and there are quite a few all across the world.

[NiInJa]

Interesting article, It immediately rang bells when I read Biswaroop Roy Chowdhary is the kingpin. He started his career with making 'world records' himself. Here is the video of the Origins of BRC. Do read the comments full of praises

https://youtu.be/deiYXoYz7Uw

Some old people in our society group had forwarded his Covid related treatment google form link last year. That was when I read about him.

[MegaWhat]

Thanks a lot for bringing this up and for your efforts in digging into this sham. Biswaroop Roy Chowdhary had even organized an anti-masking event in certain cities at the start of COVID. It's really sad that so many people believe him and follow his "advice". Like most others here, I came across his name on WhatsApp groups. At my individual level, I'm trying to call out this guy whenever such messages have been forwarded. Surprising that no legal action has been taken against him yet.

[crashnburn_in]

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[RiderZone]

Originally Posted by PGA

As Covid was foremost on the mind, the gentleman forgot to sell me his products but kept on harping on theories of Dr Biswaroop Roy Choudhary, going to an extent of stating that he is coming back from his home in UP after performing final rites of two close relatives, yet he believes Dr Biswaroop more than what science/Govt states.

That's scary to hear man, but absolutely agree with you that social media is at the heart of a lot of negative trends in our society today. People who would've gone unnoticed standing on street corners with cardboard signs, now have millions of followers and blue verification checks.

Look at this person for example, how happy she is about her "3rd INDIA BOOK OF RECORD", holding a certificate for something that's clearly not even a record! But you can also see why people pull these stupid stunts, the post has 86,000 likes. That's a good return on investment of 6000 bucks.

Originally Posted by NiInJa

Interesting article, It immediately rang bells when I read Biswaroop Roy Chowdhary is the kingpin. He started his career with making 'world records' himself. Here is the video of the Origins of BRC. Do read the comments full of praises

I refuse to believe that all those positive comments are real people, they have to be bots paid by Biswaroop! If they are real human beings, we are all doomed.