Indian in Limerick has set the Guinness World Record for walking equal to the circumference of the earth

In a 10-kilometer radius of his home, an Indian in Limerick travelled 1,500 days without travelling to any of the neighbouring countries, which was equivalent to the earth’s diameter. He completed his four-year mission last Monday.

Vinod Bajaj, 70, of Castletroy, began his mission to lose weight on August 18, 2016. The distance he covered was 40,075 km. Finally reaching the Guinness World Record.

He did not just walk around with his arms folded. He set to walk after downloading an activity tracker on his phone to monitor the progress of the process and record its various stages.

The walk went through 12 pairs of shoes. 1.568 million calories were lost. 54.6 million steps in 8,322 hours. Everything was recorded on his phone.

He claims to be the first person to walk a distance equal to the circumference of the earth in 1500 days, and has applied for a Guinness World Record. The officials from Guinness record has said it will examine his claim within 12 weeks.

On examination after the first year, he found that he had walked the same distance from Ireland to his native India, which was exciting.

“By the end of the first year I walked 7,600km and to my surprise I found that, in fact, I had walked to India from Ireland,” said Bajaj, a former senior manager with Dell Computers.” He has lived in Ireland for the past 46 years.

In his second year, he traveled 15,200 km, more than the circumference of the moon (10,921 km). And then he proceeded to walk by targeting the Mars. He covered that also. The distance to Mars is 21,344 km. Our hero had already covered 40,075 km.

The retired engineer and business consultant walked 10 miles around his home. He walked for up to 10 hours at a time, except for short intervals. Nuts and fruits were the food along the way. On hot days he would call his wife on the phone and ask for ice cream. On the walk, he’ll eat those. On the day he made the most gains during the long walk and traveled 55km, he also ate packed sandwiches.

Vinod continued to walk even during the corona virus lockdown last March. The walk will start at 5.30 am every day following safety arrangements. He also listens to the news through headphones during the walk. “I listened to India news on my headphones, followed by two hours of Morning Ireland on RTE and then SKY News. I would know what was going on in the world before everyone else got up out of bed,” he said.

Vinod Bajaj completed his remarkable journey on September 21st, covering a total of 40,107 km, surviving all weather conditions.

“At first, my wife was not very pleased because she was worried my health would be affected. She felt I might break my knees, so I didn’t tell anyone at the start, and then eventually she agreed, so it’s fine,” he said.

“If I told her I was going to walk the circumference of the earth anti-clockwise, I think she might have had a heart attack”.

Vinod’s weight had fallen from 81 kg to 60 kg by the time he finished his walk.

Walking frees the mind, relieves stress, gives new ideas and gives a lot of calm, says Vinod.