The Observer, September 14, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 3
News you can't use
India embraces superlatives
In a growing trend to stand out in a land of a billion people, the people of India are becoming increasingly obsessed with breaking world records, specifically Guinness World Records.
Radhakant Bajpai did it by growing his ear hair more than five inches long. Vadivelu Karunakaren did it by skipping 10 miles in 58 minutes.
India's Hindustan Times has run over 50 stories this year about Guinness record attempts.
Guinness Rishi submitted a record for drinking a bottle of ketchup in 39 seconds. The Guinness company has yet to accept his bid. Rishi says he breaks records in order to stand out in one of the world's biggest populations. He has business cards that list his 19 records.
"People consider me an extraordinary person, not an ordinary person," he said
India, however, does not hold the most records in the book with 219. In fact, they rank at No. 10. The United States still has the most records, followed by Great Britain, Australia, and Germany.
Since more people are earning impressive degrees and enormous salaries, it only seems natural that their zeal for the record books increases as well. Aiming for world records, no matter how ridiculous, provides a much-needed outlet in a society as rigid and hierarchical as India's, said Rishi.
"Persons who have no money wish to do something in their lives, so the poor people try to break records by their strength or their will," said Rishi, a 66-year-old partner in an auto parts factory.
Other reasons are for India's zeal.
Santosh Desai, a columnist with the Times of India, says it's an example of India's hunger for western approval.
"We are desperate to be acknowledged by the world as being worthy," Desai said. "We hunt for any signs that the external world recognizes us, and then we celebrate them."
Comedy group's motorcade passes APEC security
Cast members of an Australian TV comedy show, one dressed as Osama bin Laden, drove through two security checkpoints last week before being stopped near the Sydney hotel where President Bush was staying for the summit of leaders of Pacific Rim countries.
The police, thoroughly embarrassed after they realized what was happening, arrested 11 cast and crew members from the show, The Chaser's War on Everything.
During the stunt, cast members put together a motorcade with two motorcycles and three large cars on which they put Canadian flags. The police waved the vehicles through two checkpoints before they were stopped.
The 11 involved were charged with enetering a restricted APEC area, but were released on bail. They will appear in court next month and each faces up to six months in jail.
The show frequently pokes fun at Bush as well as other Australian top officials.
"Whatever you think of the humor of The Chaser the honest truth is they were clearly not going to harm anybody in a physical way," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said. "They presumably were, as is the nature of their show, aiming to humiliate a lot of well-known people."
