What makes us do weird, sometimes crazy things, like taking maximum burps in a minuteIJ Is it only the craze to get a certificate and see your name in a renowned book or does setting records have some long-term benefits, asks Team Viva
Talk to someone with even remote information on limca or Guinness Book of Records worldwide and one thing they are sure to inform you is that Indians have progressed leaps and bounds when it comes to making records. Be it funny or weird, over time we have proved that if it is to make a record we will go an extra mile and make sure that we are talked about enough in the national as well as international media. Sample this. Vocalist and sitar player Paras Mani Choudhary has to his credit the record of playing non-stop sitar for over 92.35 hours in 2009 and also for non-stop violin recital for 50 hours in 2011. Now Choudhary’s only aim is to set more records. “I work hard to make records. If you will ask me what I get out of this deal — working hard for months and then playing an instrument or singing for a few days continuously — I would not have any monetary benefits to make you count. It is only the certificate and fame that I receive. But that is what I live for. Every time I set out to make a record I end up spending a huge money. When I made a record for sitar recital I spent around Rs 75,000. I had to pay for the venue and other things. It was more than the amount spent on making a record with the violin recital as then I didn’t have to pay for the venue. last time I made a record I end up spending Rs 1,25,000,” informed the artist.
Is it only the craze to get famous or is it ambition or do record holders really enjoy some advantages over others, we wonder. Take another example. Bharat Sharma, created an unusual national record of taking maximum belches in a minute in 1994. It was his passion to do something out of the box and make his family proud that drove him to set such a record. “There was a craze of setting records in those days. My friends went gaga after hearing the news. It was a national record. They could relate to it,” he said.
He shared an interesting story on why he decided to do it. “I remember there was an old lady next to our door who would often burp after a meal. People used to make fun of her. I had a dark complexion and I would also feel intimidated at times. I somehow could relate to her, and when I shared this with her, she said everyone has got a unique talent and we need to polish it out. I started imitating her and burping soon became my habit. I then approached limca Book of Records’ office to notice my talent,” he recalled.
But what used to be a sense of pride in those days has become new-age’s necessity. Today’s kids are exposed to completely new world which is full of jealousy, impatience and competition. There’s a race to outshine each other.
Mumbai-based sociologist Gita Chadha blames it on general, global inconspicuousness. “In a market and image-driven lifestyle, being visible is very important and there’s a desire to sharpen your uniqueness because you feel homogenised in many ways.” Our culture, added Chadha, rewards quantity — the hits and likes your photographs get on Facebook, how many Olympic medals India wins, and so on. “Achievements are now so accessible. But are they good or badIJ Well, it’s both. On one hand, a Guinness World Record clearly enhances the person’s self-image. And as long as it is not misplaced, having a sense of who you are — and what you can be — is a good thing.” What is worrying though, is how these records further link us with the games of “how much”, she adds.
In 1995, cultural critic and historian Vinay lal wrote the essay Indians and the Guinness Book of Records — The Political and Cultural Contours of a National Obsession. The aftermath of the Rajiv Gandhi ‘era’, he explained in a recent article, saw a large number of Guinness records being created. “We Indians have always had a fetish for numbers,” he quipped.