Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has questioned his ranking in Forbes’ latest global rich list. This comes after the Forbes Billionaires Index annual list placed the founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, ahead of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. In the publication’s 2026 billionaire list, Zhao, also known as CZ, was ranked 17th with an estimated net worth of $110 billion, largely tied to his stake in the cryptocurrency exchange Binance and other digital asset investments. Zhao disputed the calculation, pointing to the sharp decline in cryptocurrency prices this year. In a social media post, he said the estimate did not align with market trends and suggested that the ranking methodology should use ”some common sense and basic logic.”Replying to a post on microblogging site X (formerly Twitter) that included a chart showing how CZ surpassed Bill Gates’ net worth, the Binance founder wrote, “Didn’t read the Forbes article, but if you just look at the little chart 👇, you know it’s wrong. Crypto prices dropped by more than 50% in 2026 already. And my net worth went up? 🤷‍♂️Wish they can apply some common sense and basic logic.”

Commenting on CZ’s post, one user wrote, “From all the shorts during 10/10 makes sense.” Responding to this, CZ wrote: “Never shorted.”

What more did Binance founder CZ say about the Forbes global rich list ranking

In response to CZ’s comments, another user wrote, “It’s often said in Chinese culture that “wealth shouldn’t be flaunted,” and CZ’s comments are quite conservative 😂”Replying to this, CZ wrote: “It’s not that. It’s just the Forbes estimates are way off. ByteDance’s estimated yearly revenue: $150b (from public sources). Zhang Yiming’s estimated net worth by Forbes: $69b. Binance’s estimated yearly revenue: $5b. CZ’s estimated net worth by Forbes: $110b ??? I think if I tried to claim I have a high net worth, they will rank me much lower, or maybe even remove me from the list. They like to estimate the opposite. 🤣”

The Forbes report noted that CZ’s “net worth has skyrocketed to $110 billion, up $47 billion from last year, on the annual World’s Billionaire’s list. CZ now ranks as the 17th-wealthiest person on the planet, by our count, and one of just 20 people worth twelve figures. He is richer than Bill Gates.”The report also noted that some of Zhao’s smaller holdings declined over the past 12 months. The value of his estimated 1,400 bitcoins also fell by about 25%, to roughly $100 million. However, the portion believed to represent a large share of the BNB tokens in circulation remained largely unchanged, the report added.

India’s triumphant T20 World Cup 2026 campaign created countless memorable moments, but one of the most unexpected stories after the final involved all-rounder Shivam Dube. Fresh from helping India lift the trophy, the cricketer chose a surprisingly simple way to return home—by traveling in a 3rd AC coach on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Sayaji Express along with his wife Anjum Khan.

At a time when the entire nation was celebrating India’s victory, Dube’s quiet and low-key journey home captured the imagination of fans. It showed a different side of the star all-rounder -one driven not by glamour or convenience, but by a simple desire to return to his family as quickly as possible.

Why Shivam Dube chose a train journey after India’s T20 World Cup triumph?

The reason behind Dube’s unusual travel choice was largely practical. Following India’s emphatic win in the T20 World Cup final in Ahmedabad, the city witnessed a surge in travel demand. Thousands of fans, officials, and players were trying to leave the city at the same time, making flights extremely difficult to secure.

All flights from Ahmedabad to Mumbai were completely booked, leaving Dube with limited options. While traveling by road was possible, it would have taken significantly longer. To reach home faster, the all-rounder decided to board the early morning 5:10 am Ahmedabad-Mumbai Sayaji Express instead.

However, the urgency behind the decision went beyond convenience. Dube was eager to return home to his young children – his four-year-old son Ayaan and two-year-old daughter Mehwish. After spending weeks away during the tournament, he simply wanted to reunite with his family as soon as possible.

For Dube, the train offered the quickest solution, even if it meant traveling in a regular coach rather than the luxury arrangements international cricketers are often accustomed to.

Also READ: Rinku Singh remembers his late father with touching message following India’s T20 World Cup glory

Traveling incognito and the close call

While the plan to take the train solved the travel problem, it created another challenge – avoiding recognition. With India’s T20 World Cup triumph dominating headlines, the last thing Dube wanted was to be surrounded by crowds of fans inside a train.

To stay unnoticed, he and his wife came up with a simple disguise. Dube wore a cap, a face mask, and a full-sleeved T-shirt to conceal his identity. At the railway station, he remained inside the car until just five minutes before departure to avoid attracting attention before quickly boarding the coach.

Once inside the train, he took additional precautions. Dube climbed onto the top berth and covered himself with a thick brown railway blanket, hoping to remain unnoticed for the entire journey.

The plan almost fell apart when the ticket collector arrived to verify passengers. Upon seeing the name Shivam Dube on the reservation chart, the TC became curious and asked, “Shivam Dube? Woh kaun hai, cricketer?”

In a moment of quick thinking, Dube’s wife Anjum calmly responded, “No, no. Woh kahan se aayega?” [How will he come here?]

Her confident reply convinced the ticket collector, who moved on without asking further questions. The couple breathed a sigh of relief as the most nerve-racking moment of the journey passed without incident.

The rest of the eight-hour trip remained largely uneventful. Dube managed to remain unnoticed by other passengers, even stepping down briefly from the berth during the night to use the washroom.

However, he knew the final challenge awaited at Borivali station in Mumbai. Arriving in broad daylight could easily expose his identity to commuters or cricket fans.

To avoid any complications, Dube contacted local authorities before the train reached the station. The police, initially surprised to learn that a World Cup hero was traveling by train, arranged a police escort to help him exit the station safely.

With their assistance, Dube quietly left the station and headed home to reunite with his children.

While his performances in the tournament – scoring 235 runs at a strike rate of 169 – made headlines, it was this simple and humble journey that won hearts across the country. In an era of luxury travel and celebrity attention, Dube’s quiet train ride home became a touching reminder of how even cricketing heroes sometimes just want to get back to their families like everyone else.

Also WATCH: Ishan Kishan reacts after Kirti Azad questions Indian team’s temple visit following T20 World Cup 2026 triumph

AI image for representative purpose only

On any given morning in India, a quiet choreography of energy unfolds. In a Delhi kitchen, a blue LPG flame hisses beneath a pressure cooker. Hundreds of kilometres away, a freight truck hums along the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway, its engine burning diesel. At Bengaluru airport, a jet roars down the runway, rising into the sky on aviation turbine fuel.Different scenes, different fuels, but all trace back to the same source: crude oil drawn from deep beneath the earth’s surface, shipped across oceans in giant tankers, refined into usable fuels and distributed through one of the most complex industrial networks in the modern world.

This vast chain, stretching from distant oilfields to households, highways and airports, is what the energy industry calls the oil and gas supply chain. India occupies a distinctive place within it. The country imports the bulk of the crude it consumes, yet it has built one of the world’s largest refining hubs, transforming that imported oil into fuels that power its economy and are shipped to markets across the globe.The Strait of Hormuz – the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman–remains a critical energy chokepoint, with more than 40% of India’s crude imports, and nearly half of its LNG and LPG shipments passing through the narrow waterway.

Earlier, TOI had reported on March 4 that officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said India’s crude oil stocks were sufficient to meet demand for about 25 days, while inventories of petroleum products such as petrol and diesel could last another 25 days. They also noted that additional volumes held in strategic reserves could help cushion short-term supply disruptions. According to the officials, cooking gas stocks were adequate for 25-30 days, while liquefied natural gas supplies were available for roughly 10 days.According to the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), the government’s official oil and gas data agency, India consumed 21.05 million metric tonnes (MMT) of petroleum products in January 2026, a 2.5% increase over the same month a year earlier. Over the April–January period of FY2025-26, the country’s petroleum demand averaged about 5.43 million barrels per day.Government projections suggest demand will remain strong. The official estimate for FY2026-27 places India’s total petroleum product consumption at 250,790 thousand metric tonnes (TMT), equivalent to about 250.8 million tonnes for the year.

Behind those numbers lies a vast supply chain that spans global oil markets, maritime shipping routes, refineries, pipelines and distribution networks. Understanding how it works – and where it is vulnerable–requires starting at the basics.

The crude oil market: Benchmarks that shape India’s import bill

Crude oil is not a single uniform substance. It is a mixture of hydrocarbons formed from the compressed remains of ancient marine organisms over millions of years. Different oilfields produce crude with different chemical properties, and those differences affect both pricing and refining.Two characteristics define crude oil quality. The first is API gravity, a scale developed by the American Petroleum Institute that measures how heavy or light crude oil is relative to water. Higher API gravity indicates lighter crude, which typically produces more valuable fuels such as petrol and diesel during refining.The second property is sulphur content. Oil with low sulphur is called sweet crude, while high-sulphur oil is known as sour crude. Sweet crude requires less processing and generally commands a higher price.Because crude oil varies so widely in quality, global oil markets rely on benchmark prices that serve as reference points for contracts. The most widely used benchmarks are Brent crude from the North Sea, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) from the United States and Dubai/Oman crude, which is commonly used to price oil exported from the Persian Gulf to Asian markets.

India uses its own reference price called the Indian Basket, calculated daily by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. Unlike global benchmarks, the Indian Basket reflects the specific mix of crude grades processed by Indian refineries. According to PPAC’s official methodology, the basket consists of 78.71% sour crude, represented by the average of Dubai and Oman grades, and 21.29% sweet crude represented by Brent Dated.For FY2025-26, the Indian Basket averaged $63.08 per barrel in January 2026. The most recent price available from PPAC for February 2026 placed the basket at around $70.70 per barrel.These numbers matter far beyond oil markets. Because India imports most of its crude oil, fluctuations in global prices directly affect the country’s import bill, inflation and fiscal balances.

Import dependence: The structural reality

India’s domestic crude production meets only a fraction of national demand. Most of the oil processed in Indian refineries is imported.Major suppliers include Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United Arab Emirates. The composition of these imports has shifted significantly in recent years. Following Western sanctions on Russia after the Ukraine war, Indian refiners sharply increased purchases of discounted Russian crude.

Despite diversification, the supply chain remains exposed to global shipping chokepoints. One of the most critical is the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which roughly one-fifth of global oil trade passes every day.Disruptions in this corridor—whether geopolitical or military—can quickly affect shipping costs and fuel prices worldwide.India has attempted to mitigate this vulnerability by expanding the number of countries it imports crude from. According to government data, India now sources crude from around forty countries, compared with about twenty-seven countries a decade ago.

Refining: India’s industrial strength

If India’s oil story began and ended with imports, the country would simply be another energy-dependent economy. But the next stage in the supply chain changes that picture.India has built one of the world’s largest refining sectors. Crude oil arriving at Indian ports is processed in twenty-three refineries with a combined capacity exceeding 258 million tonnes per year, according to PPAC data.The refining process begins in a distillation column where crude oil is heated and separated into different fractions according to boiling point. Lighter molecules rise to the top of the column while heavier fractions remain lower in the tower.From this process emerge the fuels that power modern economies: LPG for cooking, petrol for vehicles, aviation turbine fuel for aircraft, diesel for trucks and trains, and heavier residues used to produce bitumen or fuel oil.India’s refining industry is highly sophisticated. Modern refineries employ complex units such as catalytic crackers and hydrocrackers that break heavy molecules into lighter fuels. The result is a higher yield of valuable products.The Jamnagar refinery complex in Gujarat, operated by Reliance Industries, is the largest refining hub in the world at a single location. Together with refineries operated by Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum, it forms the backbone of India’s petroleum supply system.This refining strength has also turned India into a major exporter of petroleum products. Refined fuels such as petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel are shipped from Indian refineries to markets across Asia, Africa and Europe.

What fuels India consumes

Official government projections provide a clear picture of how petroleum demand is distributed across products.According to the PPAC official estimate for FY2026-27, diesel remains the dominant fuel in India’s energy system. Diesel consumption is projected at 96,399 TMT, accounting for 38.4% of total petroleum product demand.Petrol follows at 44,877 TMT, representing 17.9% of consumption. LPG, the country’s primary cooking fuel, accounts for 34,692 TMT, or about 13.8% of total demand.Other products include aviation turbine fuel, naphtha used by petrochemical plants, bitumen for road construction and fuel oils used by industry.These figures reflect the structure of India’s economy. Diesel powers freight transport and agriculture, while petrol demand is driven by rising vehicle ownership, particularly the country’s vast fleet of two-wheelers.

LPG: The fuel of everyday life

Among petroleum products, LPG occupies a unique position because it directly affects household life.Liquefied Petroleum Gas is a mixture of propane and butane gases separated during crude refining or natural gas processing. When compressed under moderate pressure, these gases liquefy, allowing them to be transported in cylinders.According to PPAC data, India consumed about 3.03 MMT of LPG in January 2026, a 7% increase over the same month a year earlier.

The scale of the LPG distribution system is enormous. As of January 2026, India had more than 33 crore active domestic LPG connections. Over 10 crore of these were provided under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana scheme designed to expand access to clean cooking fuel for low-income households.Imported LPG arrives at coastal terminals and is transported to bottling plants across the country. At these plants the gas is compressed into cylinders before being distributed through a nationwide network of dealers and delivery agents.Yet even within this sector, the data reveals changing patterns. Auto LPG—once used in three-wheelers and small vehicles—is declining as compressed natural gas becomes more widely available. At the same time, industrial demand for bulk LPG has surged, partly because it has become cheaper than liquefied natural gas for some applications.

Natural gas: promise and complications

Natural gas occupies a somewhat different place in India’s energy mix. It burns more cleanly than coal or oil and is widely used in fertiliser production, city gas networks, power generation and industry.However, transporting natural gas across oceans is complex. To ship it by sea, gas must be cooled to around minus 162 degrees Celsius, turning it into Liquefied Natural Gas. At the destination, LNG is warmed back into gas in a process known as regasification before being transported through pipelines.

India imports LNG through several coastal terminals, with the Dahej terminal in Gujarat among the largest.Despite expectations that natural gas demand will grow as India transitions toward cleaner fuels, the latest official data shows a more complicated picture. PPAC figures indicate that cumulative natural gas consumption during April–January FY2025-26 was about 4.4% lower than in the same period a year earlier.Higher LNG import prices and weaker industrial demand have contributed to this decline.

Ethanol blending: reducing oil dependence

One development that has significantly affected India’s fuel mix is ethanol blending in petrol.Ethanol, produced from sugarcane or grain, can be blended with petrol to reduce crude oil consumption and lower emissions. Government data indicates that ethanol blending reached 19.99% in January 2026, effectively achieving the national target of 20%.This milestone has important implications for India’s oil imports because each percentage point of ethanol blended into petrol reduces the amount of crude oil needed to produce that fuel.

The paradox of India’s energy transition

India has committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2070 and is rapidly expanding renewable energy capacity. Solar and wind power are growing quickly, and electric mobility is beginning to reshape parts of the transport sector.Yet oil demand continues to rise alongside economic growth. As incomes increase, vehicle ownership expands, aviation traffic grows and industrial output rises.This creates an unusual policy challenge. India must continue building refineries, pipelines and gas infrastructure to meet current demand even as it invests heavily in renewable energy systems that will eventually reduce dependence on fossil fuels.The result is an energy economy in transition–one that is simultaneously expanding fossil fuel infrastructure and preparing for a future where those fuels play a smaller role.

A price that affects every household

Global oil markets may appear distant from everyday life, but their effects are felt across the economy.Every increase in crude oil prices raises the cost of transport, electricity, fertilisers and cooking fuel. Every decline eases inflationary pressure.The price of a barrel of oil, set in global markets far from India’s shores, ultimately shapes the cost of living for millions of households.And as India’s economy continues to grow, the path from oilfield to kitchen flame will remain one of the most important supply chains in the country’s economic life.

NEW DELHI: The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is set to host matches in the upcoming Indian Premier League 2026 season, but there is a significant condition attached.The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced the schedule for the first phase of IPL 2026, which will run from March 28 to April 12. The 19th edition of the tournament will begin with defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru taking on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

However, the matches scheduled at the iconic venue are subject to approval from a government-appointed expert committee.“As three states are scheduled to undergo State Assembly elections during this period, the full schedule of the tournament will be announced once the poll dates are announced,” BCCI said in a release.A total of 20 matches will be played across 10 venues in the first phase — Bengaluru, Mumbai, Guwahati, New Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.BCCI also clarified that the matches in Bengaluru will depend on a final safety clearance from the authorities.“The matches scheduled in Bengaluru are subject to clearance from the Expert Committee constituted by the Government of Karnataka. The committee will conduct a meeting and inspection of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 13, 2026, during which a full-scale mock demonstration of match-day arrangements will be carried out to assess the stadium’s preparedness for hosting IPL matches,” BCCI said.During the first phase, the tournament will feature four double-headers, with afternoon games starting at 03:30 PM IST and evening matches at 07:30 PM IST.

IPL 2026: Schedule

The first double-header of the season is scheduled for April 4, when Delhi Capitals face Mumbai Indians in the afternoon at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, followed by Gujarat Titans taking on Rajasthan Royals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.Rajasthan Royals will start their home campaign in Guwahati, where they will host Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians. Punjab Kings, meanwhile, will play their early home matches at the PCA Stadium.As per the current plan, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will play five home matches in Bengaluru and two in Raipur. Punjab Kings will play four home games in New Chandigarh and three in Dharamsala, while Rajasthan Royals will split their home fixtures between Guwahati and Jaipur.However, the final confirmation for the Bengaluru matches will depend on the outcome of the inspection and clearance by the Karnataka government’s expert committee.

NEW DELHI: Bangladesh produced a dominant performance to defeat Pakistan by eight wickets in the first ODI and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka. The hosts were outstanding with both ball and bat, comfortably chasing down the small target of 115 in just 15.1 overs. It was Bangladesh’s first win over Pakistan since the 2018 Asia Cup, making the victory even more special for the home crowd.

The match was largely decided during Pakistan’s batting innings. Pakistan started steadily with Sahibzada Farhan and Maaz Sadaqat putting together a 41-run opening partnership, but things quickly fell apart once the first wicket fell. Bangladesh pacer Nahid Rana delivered a fiery spell that completely changed the game, ripping through Pakistan’s top and middle order. He picked up five wickets and could have had a sixth as well, but Bangladesh chose not to review an LBW decision against Faheem Ashraf. Captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz also played his part with three wickets, leaving Pakistan struggling at regular intervals. Only Faheem Ashraf, who scored 37, offered some resistance late in the innings to push Pakistan to 114 all out in 30.4 overs.Chasing the modest target, Bangladesh made the task look easy. Tanzid Hasan Tamim led the charge with a brilliant 67 not out off 42 balls, smashing seven fours and five sixes and attacking Pakistan’s spinners confidently. He was well supported by Najmul Hossain Shanto, who added 27, as the pair built a strong partnership to take the game away from Pakistan.Pakistan managed just two wickets during the chase, with Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Wasim Jr picking up one each, but the bowlers failed to put any real pressure on the Bangladeshi batters. In the end, Bangladesh sealed a comfortable win and handed Pakistan a heavy defeat to start the three-match series.

A coordinated global effort to stabilise volatile energy markets gathered pace on Wednesday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed to release the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.According to an AP report, the Paris-based agency will make 400 million barrels available from members’ strategic reserves –significantly higher than the 182.7 million barrels released in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.IEA member nations currently hold over 1.2 billion barrels of public emergency oil stocks, along with an additional 600 million barrels of industry stocks maintained under government obligation.

Conflict disrupts global oil flows

The decision follows a sharp deterioration in the regional security situation after Iran, responding to US and Israeli strikes, attacked commercial shipping across the Persian Gulf and effectively halted cargo movement through the Strait of Hormuz — a key passage for about one-fifth of global oil shipments.Iran has also targeted oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab countries, aiming to generate economic pressure on the United States and Israel to halt their military actions. The IEA said export volumes of crude and refined products have dropped to less than 10 per cent of pre-war levels.

Countries begin releasing reserves

Germany and Austria confirmed they would release parts of their strategic reserves following the IEA’s request, while Japan said it would start drawing down some stocks from Monday.Germany’s economy minister Katherina Reiche said Berlin would act in line with the agency’s call “to release oil reserves amounting to 400 million barrels, which is a good 54 million tons,” adding that the first deliveries could begin within days.“Germany stands behind the IEA’s most important principle of mutual solidarity,” she said.Austria’s economy minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer said Vienna would also release part of its emergency oil reserves and extend the national strategic gas stockpile. “One thing is clear: in a crisis, there must be no crisis winners at the expense of commuters and businesses,” he said.

G7 backs use of strategic stocks

Energy ministers of the Group of Seven had earlier expressed support in principle for “the implementation of proactive measures to address the situation, including the use of strategic reserves” following discussions at IEA headquarters in Paris.Emergency reserves have been deployed in past supply disruptions, including during conflicts in Iraq, Libya and, most recently, the Ukraine war, as governments sought to contain sharp spikes in global energy prices.

Airports are places of waiting. Passengers sit beneath departure boards, watching cities flicker past in rows of glowing letters. Flights are delayed, gates change, and journeys unfold slowly, one boarding call at a time.But for Sujoy Kumar Mitra, for 5 days, 17 hours and 28 minutes, airports were something else entirely. They were checkpoints in a race against time, gateways that carried him across nearly the entire planet—more specifically, across the New Seven Wonders of the World.It was at Petra that he achieved the milestone no one has reached to date: a Guinness World Record for the fastest time to visit the New Seven Wonders of the World, completing the journey in exactly 5 days, 17 hours and 28 minutes.In an exclusive conversation with Times Travel, Sujoy Kumar Mitra gave us the often chaotic ‘Behind The Scene’ tour that finally helped him bag the coveted world record. But before we go into that in detail, here’s a little background on Mr Mitra as a traveller.

Guinness Book of World Record

Why Guiness World Record?

To this Sujoy replied, “I have been travelling since 2006. Till 2011, I was travelling across India. From 2011 till date, I have been to 198 countries. Travelling was a passion for me. I once held the world record for visiting all 7 continents (which I no longer hold). That was my first Guinness record. We see these records every now and then, and I have always believed that all records are meant to be broken. So it was a lot of fun targeting Guinness records. This outlook really got me started.”His travels place him among a small group of travellers who have visited almost every recognised nation on Earth. We are also told that Sujoy is the only Indian traveller (globally) to hold 11 active Guinness World Records. So many world records, that too, in travel, one wonders – How does one even find the time, and most importantly, how does one manage the finances? Coming from an engineering background, leaving his job in 2014 happened naturally for Sujoy. Reason: to travel the world. He shared that he never took a flight till the age of 28. India travel was completely by trains and other low-cost travel. Here’s something we didn’t expect to hear: The secret behind the flights: “About 80 percent of my travel has been funded through airline miles,” he says. Over the years he accumulated millions of loyalty points through airline programmes, credit cards and boarding passes shared by friends and acquaintances.

Sujoy Kumar Mitra in Machu Picchu

Those points allow him to book long-haul flights, sometimes even premium seats, at a fraction of the normal cost. In essence, he has turned loyalty programmes into a powerful travel tool. He even did the same with hotel stays. Loyalty programs, folks. Always read the fine prints.

The world record and the challenges: The Behind-The-Scenes

One of his most remarkable feats involved visiting the New Seven Wonders of the World in just over five days. The challenge required him to travel thousands of kilometres across continents, stopping briefly at monumental sites including Machu Picchu, Great Wall of China and Petra. The route stretched across continents, leaving almost no margin for delay. Each stop required quick documentation and immediate departure for the next destination. The monuments themselves, from the towering stone walls of the Great Wall of China to the ancient rose-coloured city of Petra, were only part of the journey – the easier part, he said.

The real challenge unfolded in transit

Flights were tightly connected. Immigration queues could derail entire schedules. Any delay threatened to collapse the carefully constructed timeline. At one point, a flight cancellation even forced Mitra to completely redesign his route mid-journey. That was his Rome to Beijing stretch for the next leg of the record race. It was supposed to be Rome-Amsterdam-Beijing. But when it got cancelled last-minute, he had to, without wasting time, reroute it via Munich (Germany). Then came an even greater obstacle. Midway through the attempt, he fell seriously ill. Landing in China with a high fever was not an option so he took medicines to counter the fever and hoped to the Universe to let him get through this travel hiccup without ending the world record attempt. “I just needed to get through immigration,” he recalls.Times Travel: Which was the most beautiful of all New Seven Wonders of the world? Sujoy: There are two answers to this question. Emotionally, it’s the Taj Mahal. But I also must add that for me Petra held a special place. Mainly because it was the place where I broke the record. Before reaching Petra, I was just running around to break the record.Times Travel: One place in the world you would want to visit again.Sujoy: That’s an easy answer: Antarctica. That’s nature at its best. Seeing penguins in Antarctica is one of the most joyful things I experienced. If we look at the Seven Wonders of the World, I’d like to visit Machu Picchu again. From India, it’s like Machu Picchu is on the other end of the world, and it’s the journey that I love the most. Times Travel: One place you’d happily skip.Sujoy: Yemen, mostly because visiting Yemen is highly restricted. For Indians, it is illegal to visit Yemen due to a strict, long-standing travel ban imposed by the Government of India. But if you must visit the country, you’ll need an NOC from the Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India.

Sujoy Kumar Mitra at the Great Wall of China

Discovering the world of Guinness World Record

Mitra’s entry into record-breaking began with an ambitious challenge: travelling across all seven continents within a set timeframe. The experience introduced him to the meticulous standards required by Guinness World Records.Unlike ordinary travel, record attempts require detailed documentation. Participants must collect passport stamps, GPS tracking data, continuous video recordings and independent witness statements to prove every step of the journey. Missing even a single requirement can invalidate the entire attempt.Planning can take months. Routes are calculated down to the minute. Flights must align with time zones and opening hours for sites. Sometimes permissions must be secured from institutions that verify the visit. “The day of the record is actually the easiest part,” he adds. “The real challenge is preparing everything beforehand.”

Beyond the records

Despite the headlines and certificates, Mitra speaks about records with a sense of humility. “All records are meant to be broken,” he says. “Even tomorrow someone may break mine.” For him, the real value of travel lies in the perspective it brings, the chance to witness cultures, landscapes and lives that rarely appear together in one person’s journey.From the icy wilderness of Antarctica to the crowded streets of ancient cities, his travels have formed a mosaic of experiences spanning almost the entire planet. What began as a young man’s dream to board an airplane has evolved into something far larger.