Already a holder of three milestones in the Limca Book of Records, Haryana resident Jaibir Singh Virk Saturday claimed a fourth one Saturday. With his friend Amit Chaudhary, Virk covered 7,050 km, crossing 28 cities from Chandigarh to Kanyakumari in 19 days, to enter the record books for undertaking the 'Longest Indian Expedition on a Tractor'.
Adventurers Virk and Chaudhary, who hail from Tohana town in Haryana, 160 km from here, decided to do something different by going on a tractor expedition to spread the message of peace.
Despite the tough journey on the relatively slow-moving tractor, both did not sweat it out much - courtesy the 75 horse-power Indo Farm tractor being air-conditioned!
Virk, 33, who is a farmer and lawyer, said: "Unlike cars or bikes, driving a tractor is a tough job. It is more challenging and we wanted to set a new category in the Limca Book of Records. Till date no one has been able to break my previous records."
The journey kicked off Sep 2 and was completed on World Peace Day (Sep 21), ensuring the social message behind the expedition. Virk's earlier expeditions have also been for social causes like 'Save Girl Child' and 'Anti Corruption'.
"Believe me it gives you immense satisfaction when you do something for a cause. We did our best to spread the message of peace and harmony in the country," Virk told IANS here.
"All our expeditions have a message. We work for a mission. We want to encourage the youth of our country through such things," he added.
Chaudhary, a school teacher and fellow adventurer, with whom he earlier shared the Limca record for the 'Longest expedition in Himalayan region' in 2012, narrated his experiences of the adventurous journey: "It was not an easy task, nor the drive was easy as we were required to drive almost 400 km a day, around 18 hours every day to complete the journey on time."
"As the tractor cannot be driven beyond 25 km per hour, it becomes tedious," he added.
Talking about their mean machine and how the whole experience of driving on it was, Virk said: "The tractor was air-conditioned which gave us ample relief, it had a power steering and a lot of leg space. This machine made our journey through hilly areas and plains possible."
This is not the first tractor expedition for the farmer-advocate and the teacher duo.
"I first undertook a solo expedition on a tractor in June 2008 and covered 3,175 km in 18 days, crossing nine high passes in the Himalayas, including Khardung La, the world's highest motorable road at 18,380 feet," Virk said.
Since proper paperwork is required to undertake such an expedition, Virk left no stone unturned ensuring full authenticity for this record.
"I collected my journey proofs from the police stations on the way and also maintained a log book, including fuel and stay bills, as this was required as proof for the Limca Book of Records," he said, adding that the whole Indo Farm equipment team behind the effort was responsible for the achievement.
Virk had earlier embarked on a Himalayan odyssey in June 2012, covering 3,623 km in 14 days with Chaudhary.
"We also entered Limca Book of World Records by covering 273 km in a tractor in reverse gear in 14 hours and 45 minutes for the longest ever non-stop reverse drive," he said.
Indo Farm equipment executive vice president Anshul Khadwalia said: "It was rather a test for our new tractor which we launched, the first ever air-conditioned tractor and we are glad that the tractor has passed the test."
"The tractors are required to work for long hours and it was a challenge to provide a technology which can bear the load of an air-conditioner and at the same time is powerful and fuel efficient," he said.
