Harshiti Kaviraj Bhoir, a five-and-a-half-year-old girl from Ulwe in Raigad district, has entered the World Book of Records for trekking five forts in a single day.
A senior kindergarten student at Ryan International School in Nerul, Harshiti achieved the feat on January 26. Accompanied by her parents, Kaviraj and Nivedita, Harshiti started the trek at 5.30 a.m. from Shrivardhan fort and covered Manaranjan fort, Visapur fort, and Lohagad fort before finishing her journey at the top of Tikona fort at 4.30 p.m.
Mr. Bhoir said, “Harshiti had trekked up all these forts at least once on different days before attempting the world record. We planned to cover seven forts, but we dropped three to cut down on travel time. The road trip, climb and descent were videographed. Eight hours of raw footage was sent to the adjudicators along with the map tracker and around 400 photos. The judges assessed the video, maps and photos, and declared that Harshiti had set a new world record.”
Discovering her talent
Mr. Bhoir, who works in CIDCO’s fire department in Ulwe, said his family hails from Uran and he enjoyed going on treks with his wife, a nurse at CIDCO’s heath centre in Ulwe. The couple first discovered Harshiti’s talent when they took her on a trek to Raigad fort in 2018. The three-and-a-half-year-old impressed her parents with her strength and enthusiasm.
Frequent treks
He said, “To find out her interest, we took for treks to various other forts. Trekking has now become her passion. To encourage her, we frequently go on treks to Karnala fort in Panvel, Asheri fort in Palghar, Prabalgad fort in Raigad, Shrivardhan fort in Raigad, and Shivneri fort in Pune.”
Mr. Bhoir said Harshiti would join him on his evening walks and they would cover seven kilometres. “We soon progressed to walk eight kilometres, but she never grew tired of it. We mostly visited Karnala fort as it was the nearest one to us,” Mr. Bhoir said.
On June 8 last year, Harshiti became the youngest to climb the highest peak in Maharashtra — Kalsubai (1,646 metres) in Satara district — in three hours and 35 minutes. She was honoured for achieving the feat by the India Book of Records on August 19 and the Asia Book of Records on December 19 last year.
Setting sights high
Mr. Bhoir said the family planned to make a trip to Manali or Uttarakhand, but it was thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic. On her future plans, Harshiti says, “Reach the ice top”, hinting at climbing Mount Everest.
