COIMBATORE: Recollecting phone numbers of even our relatives, friends and colleagues is a tough task for most of us, but a tutor of foreign languages here has managed to memorise a 270-digit binary number sequence and recall them in one minute.
The 36-year-old P Aravind repeated them here on Friday in trying to break the record of 264 digits set by Jayasimha from Hyderabad in 2011. Aravind developed his phenomenal memory when he started to learn Italian and Spanish and found memorising lists of new words, phrases, etc, daunting. He was then doing an undergraduate course in Trichy.
So he started looking for ways to memorise and came across a technique called ‘memory palace’, a mnemonic device used in ancient Roman and Greek rhetoric. Popularly called ‘Roman Room’, it is very effective to 'store' unrelated information. Many memory contest champions use the technique to recall digits, words, faces, etc.
Aravind practised it for three hours every day during the past 12 months, but did not undergo any special training under anyone. He then applied to the 'Guinness Book of World Records' which accepted his application. Aravind performed the task in front of the media and Dr Srinivasan, psychologist, Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital and Dr Prakasam, principal, PPG Institute of Technology, who were the judges approved by the Guinness Committee.
Though he failed in the first four attempts, Aravind succeeded to recall 270 binary digits at one go in the next attempt. Initially, looking at the camera flashes and the crowd, he had became nervous and then tried his luck by closing his eyes in the the final attempt, Aravind said.
The recorded video clip of the performance has been sent to the Guinness Committee in London. Only after their approval would his name be included in the Guinness World Records.
The judges pointed out that to recall 270 digits in a very short time like one minute is not very easy. Besides, in the case of a binary number, all of them being ones and zeros makes it even more difficult. Aravind has done an excellent job, they said, and hoped that his attempt would get the Guinness' authorities' approval.