SHIVALI SRIVASTAVA: Quilling to Global Recognition

Dolls are synonymous with small girls as they graduate usually to teddy bears with their growing age. however, with some, dolls could be a lasting obsession, but very rarely does such an obsession lead to a global recognition with twelve Guinness world record certifications! Meet Shivali Johri Srivastava — holder of 12 unusual world records.

- GP CAPT ACHCHYUT KUMAR

It all started with a news item that a lady from the United Arab Emirates had established a world record for collecting 1145 quilled dolls. The girl, a potential computer science engineer, was motivated to work beyond her college curriculum to outdo the Arab lady. Her mother too joined the enthusiastic daughter in making paper dolls and they earned the first Guinness World Record certification jointly, on 9 June 2016 by putting up 1,251 different dolls. Although they had established a new world record, it was in a different way and did not actually better the record of the Arab lady.

The first certification was a good impetus for the family to undertake the task of bettering the world record of quilled dolls. It was now Shivali, mother Kavita and father Anil, all working together to set a new world record. They finally earned a Guinness World Record certification by putting up a display of 2,200 quilled dolls on Children’s Day 2019 at Hyderabad, improving upon the number of 1145 which was the impetus for all that followed.

A lot more happened between the intervening periods of these two world records. There were as many as eight world record certifications in this period as the field of quilled dolls was not the only field in which the family was at work. On 29 April 2017, the mother-daughter duo put up a show of 7,011 quilled flowers to earn their second certification for a Guinness World Record. On 6 September 2017, the family exhibited a total of 2,111 different dolls with Shivali receiving her third certification.