Shishir Hathwar with his Guinness World Records certificate

Bangalore, March 14: If you ever meet Shishir Hathwar, don’t be flummoxed if he asks you: “Evil uoy od erehw?”

That’s not a string of arcane abuse — it’s just “where do you live” spoken backwards, so you can make a strong comeback (no pun intended) with “Irahp egnugyllab”.

After all, this electronics engineer from Bangalore is the reigning world champion of reverse spelling. As for pronouncing words backwards, it’s just fun.

While you and I may hum and haw if asked to spell “irrepressible”, the 25-year-old spelt 50 randomly picked words backwards in 1 minute and 22.53 seconds flat to walk into the Guinness World Records.

And that included the likes of “Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia”, which means a fear of long words. Obviously, it’s not a fear afflicting Hathwar, who claims to know every word in a standard English dictionary.

The young man established his feat at the Bangalore Press Club last November 13. After screening the TV footage for about two months, a satisfied Guinness recognised the record last week by sending him a certificate.

The clean-shaven Hathwar said he had the idea after watching a video of then record-holder Job Pottas of Kerala, who had in March last year set his record in 1 minute and 40.14 seconds.

“From that moment I knew I could beat that,” Hathwar said.

Watching him perform is an experience. The alphabet sounds come out crisp, fast and perfect — without pause, without hesitation, without a single mistake.

“I picked up the skill almost accidentally when I was 16 and read a signpost backwards, stunning a friend who was with me,” he said.

The friend gave it wide publicity and so Hathwar began reeling off words backwards and forwards for kicks, holding innumerable sessions for his dumbfounded schoolmates.

The son of a robotics scientist with the Defence Research and Development Organisation and an MSc (physics) mother said he had a head for numbers as well and grew up in “a very intellectual atmosphere at home”.

“I have a huge appetite for books. I am sure the reading habit helped enhance my vocabulary,” he said. Plus, he had discovered a technique to improve his concentration: “I found playing with words was one great way to focus.”

So, what’s his reverse spelling technique? “Well, I basically visualise words, break them into pieces of three or four and form little words within words.”

All within a fraction of a second, no doubt. How does he do it? For one thing, he’s not a man for e-gaming or too much Internet.

“I’d advise children not to waste time on TV and movies. I used my time well (reading) since I was never into movies and don’t watch TV, not even cricket,” he chuckled. “But I’m keeping a track of who’s winning in the World Cup matches.”

He absolutely hates the text-message lingo that has caught on even with the well educated.

His passion for reading notwithstanding, Hathwar is quite the outdoor man, needing no excuse to go trekking up the nearby hills. In December 2005, he completed the 21km JSW half-marathon in Bangalore in 98 minutes.