Paras K Jha/DNA India
32,681 people sip tea at one place to enter the Guinness Book of Records
Indore, Feb 25: On Sunday evening, Indore replaced Nishio City, Japan, in the Guinness Book of World Records as the place where the maximum number of people gathered at one venue to drink tea.
The Japanese city had seen 14,718 people have tea together on October 8, 2006, but the Nehru stadium here saw a turnout of more than double that number – 32,681.
The event was organised by Dainik Bhaskar to celebrate the silver jubilee of its Indore edition, and as part of its initiative to engage with the city for its betterment.
A cheer went up in the stadium as the Guinness representative Francesca Diesidia declared the new world record.
She represented the certificate of the entry to Bhaskar Group chairman Rameshchandra Agrawal and Indore Mayor Dr. Umashashi Sharma.
People formed a kilometre-long queue to get early entry into the stadium. There were seven entry points where electronic counters registered the footfalls. The doors were opened by 3:30 pm and the distribution of tea started at 5:40 pm.
Every citizen in the stadium was given a specially designed cup to drink the tea in. They were allowed to keep the cup as a memento. City residents who couldn’t attend the event got to see it on local TV channels.
Filmfare award winning playback singer Shreya Ghoshal and Krishna, who lent his voice to popular numbers like Maula mere lele meri jaan from Chak De India, enthralled the audience with their vibrant live performance. Shammi Narang, a senior newsreader from Doordarshan, was the compere.
Brook Bond Red Label and the Tea Board of India were associated with the event.
A special “Indore Anthem” written by the city poet Rahat Indoree and sung by Shankar Mahadevan was released on the occasion.