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Pakistani mental-genius has set a new world record by setting the
fastest time to identify all the elements in the periodic table.
We have often heard the phrase “Pakistanis don’t lack in talent”. Some
of us have even made a habit of uttering this whenever we hear of
someone from our country showing off his or her prowess in any field of
life. However, it’s not just talent that makes one stand out. There is
much more that goes behind every “overnight success” that we fail to
grasp.
Meet Abdul Basit, A Guinness World Record holder
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Abdul Basit was born in Jeddah, in Saudia Arabia. He studied in the
Pakistani Embassy School Jeddah till grade 3 and then moved to Pakistan.
He did a private B.A. from Bahauddin Zakaria University, Multan, and
then went on to get an MBA (MIS) degree from IBA.
From the very start, Abdul Basit was interested in numbers and mental
calculations. He loved the ability to use just his mind to solve
problems.
“In mental calculations, I am not anything like a genius but from my
childhood, I was pretty good at it,” says Abdul Basit. “I touched pretty
much every field, science, commerce, arts. But the subjects with
numbers, I liked the most,”
Married and a father to three kids, he came to Dubai in 2004 and now
works as a mental-calculations and memory trainer. Last year, Abdul
Basit decided to attempt the record of identifying all the elements in
the periodic table just to “inspire his students”.
He just wanted to set an example for his students to follow.
He got in touch with Guinness World Records, the renowned record-keeper
of some of the most incredible as well as the most bizarre things
mankind has done. Anyone can apply for it and it takes around 12 weeks
for them to process it, after which they tell you if they accepted it or
not. If they do accept it, you can pay and have their adjudicator
(judge) come to you or you can attempt without paying and send them the
video and photographic evidence.
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Cultural expert Nasif Kayed, from The Arab Culturalist, told CNN falcons
can cost anywhere between 2,000 dirhams ($544) and 70,000 dirhams
($19,058).
"It depends on what you're looking for and how much money you have, of
course," he said. "It depends on the breed -- some are (bred) for speed,
others are for long distance hunting."
In the United Arab Emirates, the birds are required to have their own
passports, issued by the Ministry of Environment and Water, to combat
smuggling of the birds. The document is valid for three years and costs
about $130.
Between 2002 and 2013, the government issued more than 28,000 falcon
passports.
Kayed says the birds can be trained within a matter of six weeks and
Emirati men develop a strong relationship with the animals.
"For us, they represent courage, perseverance, determination and
freedom."
Qatar, Etihad, Emirates and Royal Jordanian Airlines allow falcons in
their cabin area.
In 2014, Tom Whitehill took a Qatar Airways flight from Dubai to Doha
and experienced traveling with the falcons first-hand.
"It was quite strange, there was no warning that they were going to be
on the flight," he told CNN.
"I had heard plenty of stories of falcons flying throughout the Gulf in
the cabin of the aircraft, but had not seen it before -- it was a nice
surprise, but definitely a bit surreal."
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On the 19th of December, 2016, in the city of Al Ain, UAE, Abdul Basit
attempted and succeeded in setting the fastest time for correctly
identifying all the elements in the periodic table. He achieved this
feat in just 3 minutes and 9.29 seconds.
Abdul Basit has no interest in Chemistry whatsoever. He just used his
skill in learning and crunching information with his brain to smash this
record. Although it took him four months of practice, even then this
record wasn’t as easy as he has made it seem. He has been playing with
numbers in his mind since he was just a little kid. Moreover, he has
gone through a life full of hardships just for his love for it. We got
in touch with him and here is what we found out.
After completing his degree, he had started an academy in Karachi with a
friend. He enjoyed the teaching, but not the business part of managing
an academy. In 2004, he left the academy, sold off his shares to his
partner, and came to Dubai. However, even here, he struggled to find a
suitable career which he could actually enjoy.
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“I left 4 different jobs. Not because they let me go. Because I
quit. I resigned from each job. Because I wasn’t enjoying what I was
doing. I wasn’t happy. That was not what I love to do. I wanted to teach
and inspire students.”
He also went to a number of universities and schools but none of them
were interested in hiring him for his skills. For 10 years, he struggled
as his financial situation kept deteriorating.
Finally, he ended up creating his very own YouTube channel by the name
of “NumerTainment” where he teaches his students to master the art of
mental calculations.
“Where I teach nowadays, it’s an American institute. I teach students
how to get the answer within seconds, with writing 1 or maximum 2
lines,” he shared about his current job. “They love it. They shout and
scream with excitement. The normal response is, “why were these methods
not taught to us before?””
For the near future, Abdul Basit has some really ambitious goals. He
plans to break a new world record in a different category every 6
months! He also says that he will gladly help anyone who wants to become
a Guinness world record holder and provide them all the guidance they
need for the application procedure. Lastly, he is planning to approach
local schools, colleges, universities again for free presentations to
inspire their students and increase his community of learners on his
channel.
There is still a lot more to the story than we have shared over here.
You can catch it on NumberTainment where Abdul Basit plans to upload a
video of his own story on Friday.
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