Over 700 to celebrate their birthday under one roof on R-Day

January 26 is Republic Day.  It also happens to be the birthday of at least 700 people living in different parts of country. The speciality this time is they will gather at one place for celebrating their birthday together, thanks to an initiative by a Ahmedabad-based event manager.

His intentions are clear--entry in the Guinness Book of World Records and also bring smiles on the faces of many. The participants will comprise people from different age groups.  

While politicians will be making tall promises on the Republic Day with Lok Sabha elections round the corner, birthday boys and girls will be celebrating their special day.

At the end of the day, they will create a record and find their names in the books of records as well. As of now, 14 senior citizens have sent in their entries to be part of the event. Parents of 27 children have registered names of their wards to celebrate the first birthday on that day.

Prashant Patel, the organiser of this unique event, said: “Such an event has never been organised in any part of the country where so many people will be celebrating their birthday together under one roof.’’ He said the age is not a criterion but the date is.

Patel has been inviting people to collect forms or make online registrations so that they can be a part of the celebrations on the day and get to know people who share birthday with them.

“Though I had said that I will be accepting registration forms only till January 10 but requests have been pouring in and now the number seems to be much beyond than what I had expected,” said Patel. 

He said that a similar event that he had heard was 228 people celebrating the birth of five guerrillas on July 4, 2012, in the Netherlands.  “This event finds a mention in the Guinness Book as the largest number of people coming together to celebrate birth,” said Patel.

Inspiring event

But the event in Ahmedabad will have at least double the number. It will be a unique and will definitely be an inspiration for others in the country and the world. January 26, 2001, might be a dark day in the history of Gujarat with the killer earthquake having rocked several parts of the state and claiming hundred of lives. Patel has found at least 14 children born on that day and they will also be part of the celebrations at a private farm.
“The birthday celebrations of the 700-odd people will be held at a farm.

Many organisations will be contributing in their own way to make it a special occasion for all those participating in the function,’’ said Patel.

Angana Gandhi, who was born on January 26 and will be part of this celebration, said it will indeed be a memorable experience to realise that so many people in Ahmedabad alone have the same birthday.  She said it will be the first such experience for her where she will see that people from various age groups will be present and they all will have one thing in common--birthday.

No registration fee

“With no fee charged for registration, I have got entries from Mumbai and Pune. Two non-resident Indians from the US and one from the UK have also registered. However, the maximum number of entries are from Gujarat and most of them are from Ahmedabad,” he said.

Patel has also invited family members of participants and will offer a birthday cake and gifts. Patel, who has organised several events earlier, admits that this will be a challenging one as some may not have held their birthday parties. This time by attending this party they definitely would be hosting a party for themselves in future.  

“I want to turn the spotlight on Ahmedabad and Gujarat and ensure they find a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Getting your name in the Guinness Book and Limca Book of Records is a matter of pride and I wish to accommodate maximum number of entries to ensure that the record will take some time to beat,” the 42-year-old event manager said.

Hiral Rathod, whose son Om Rathod would also be part of this celebration, admits that it is indeed a special event and it will be a rare chance to see the name of his son in Guinness Book of World Records. “It is indeed a unique event and that too on such an important day for the country,” said Rathod.

Patel has already sent applications to the Guinness Book of Records and Limca Book of Records in 2013 and proceeded to plan the event only after receiving positive responses from  both organisations.

Swati Bhan in Ahmedabad