The Indian paper boat that could break a world record

I visited a college campus last week. It wasn’t my college, nor had I ever been there, but the brewing teen spirit, amateur march-pasts and Justin Bieber’s voice as a playlist-constant definitely took me back. It was day 3 at Maker Mela 2018, hosted by the Somaiya Vidyavihar Campus, and I was there to witness an official attempt to break the world record – for the world’s largest Paperboat. Three hundred students had volunteered to build it along with Architect Nuru Karim, Haresh Mehta, the MD at Jyna Packaging, Prof. Yogesh Tamhane from the Somaiya Riidl and the MD of Hafele South Asia, Jurgen Wolf. Five days of tireless construction and 1000 interlocked cardboard sheets culminated to the significantly huge structure, an effort to raise awareness on global water scarcity. We spoke to Nuru Karim from NUDES, who explained, “A third of the world’s population lives with water scarcity. In rural areas, women can spend up to 6 hours in a day collecting water. The Eco-friendly Cardboard “Paper Boat” critiques our consumption patterns, and calls out for awareness and sensitivity towards the usage of water.” The noteworthy attempt definitely caught our attention, but we needed Nuru to answer the million-dollar question – did they break the world record? “The current world record is approximately 90 feet, while the paper boat is 120 feet. However, we would need a third party to verify the measurements for us to get the final certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records,” says Nuru, and we will wait with bated breath. The boat will stay at the Somaiya Vidyvihar campus for a few days, and will then float to various art exhibitions and locations across Mumbai. Stay tuned on the Maker Mela website. Websiteswww.makermela.comwww.hafeleindia.comAlso read: India is going to get its first Sculpture Park!