Supine yet supreme

Lying down with a bed of nails under his back and a block under his legs, for 20 seconds Sensei Vispy Kharadi bore the 1,235 kg weight of his seven team mates, each of whom was supported horizontally, one atop the other on a similar one-inch bed of sharp iron nails. This feat undertaken on December 3, 2017 in Surat won them a certificate from Guinness World Records Inc, London, describing the accomplishment as "officially amazing.” The earlier record, with six layers of nail beds, was undertaken by Kharadi’s team in Italy in 2014 when they bettered their own record of five layers of nail beds.
Besides Kharadi, the three other Parsi daredevils who joined him in forming the 16-foot human and bed of nails sandwich pyramid in 2017 were 49-year-old Sensei Darius Cooper who was the eldest, 22-year-old Shaahan Davierwala who was the youngest, and Sensei Hanoz Kasad. Supporting them were Jackie Patel, Oscar Bragenza, Gulam Malik and Priyank Rana. And masterminding the feat was Renshi Vispi Kasad who had a crucial role in determining "when to start and end the feat,” and determining the exact position where each of the participants had to lie down and balance the bed of iron nails.
Practice for this feat had started four months prior to the event, says Kharadi. Following the principle of "progressive overload,” at the first session, Kharadi at the bottom bore 300 kg and gradually built up his capacity. At the practice sessions, 850 kg was the maximum weight he had been able to manage but on the final day "with the rush of adrenaline” he was able to go up to 1,235 kg, he informed Parsiana.

Renshi Vispi Kasad (left) and Sensei Vispy Kharadi perform the watermelons feat

Eight participants sandwiched between a bed of nails

Winning team with Guinness officials

Considering that they were not just bearing weight but simultaneously lying on a bed of nails, Kharadi explains that the trick lies in "controlling your mind.” Similar to the first prick of an injection needle that conditions the body, the participants were able to gradually control the pain. Increasing the oxygen flow in the body is also important when performing such feats, adds Kharadi. With excess blood flowing to the head, "blood pressure tends to shoot up” and needs to be constantly monitored. To control blood pressure, three months prior to the event they had eliminated salt intake as part of their dietary preparation.
To the participants, injuries in the form of damage to the ribs were part of the training regimen. And after accomplishing the Guinness feat, Kharadi mentions that he was not able to lie down and sleep on his back or chest for 10 days.
On the same day, 38-year-old Kharadi succeeded in creating one more record for Guinness together with 44-year-old Kasad when Kharadi’s bare stomach served as a cutting board as Kasad sliced, with a sword called katna, 51 watermelons each weighing four kilograms, in one minute. Both Kharadi and Kasad are mix martial art instructors with Kharadi running Spartan Vispy’s Martial Arts Academy with five branches in Surat and Kasad running his dojo (room where martial arts is practiced) in Navsari. Last year they baffled audiences with their "blindfolded veggie cutting” act (when vegetables of various sizes placed on different parts of Kharadi’s body were cut into two by a blindfolded Kasad) in the popular TV reality show, "America’s Got Talent” (see "Stroke of a sword,” Parsiana, August 21, 2017).
To Kharadi goes the credit for creating four Guinness records, as notes a press release. He holds a third degree black belt in karate, second dan black belt in kudo and first dan black belt in judo and aiki-jujutsu (Japanese martial art). He is also trained in the Israeli martial art krav maga and is a kick boxing instructor. For the last five years he has been imparting training to the Surat police, conducting free self-defense camps for women under the banner of Suraksha Setu for the Gujarat government, been involved in providing VVIP protection to delegates like Bill Gates and DJ Tiesto (Tijs Michiel Verwest, Dutch disc jockey and record producer) and planning disaster management for major events like Filmfare Awards, etc according to his life profile.
An MBA in marketing from Gujarat University, Kharadi did his postgraduation in portfolio management from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore after which he served as branch manager for Kotak Mahindra Bank for 10 years.
"These stunts are not martial art. It is because of martial art training that we are able to do them,” stresses Kharadi.