National

Breaking new grounds in Pink City

JAIPUR: Breaking new grounds a group of builders in the Pink City on Saturday managed to set a world record in the number of persons participating in the groundbreaking ceremony! Over 4530 persons, including the Mayor of the city and 3510 pundits (Hindu priests) invited from different parts of India, joined the “bhoomipooja” of a new condo homes project, 17 kms from the heart of the city on the Jaipur-Ajmer Road.

A Guinness World Record’s team, led by Kim Lacey, flown in from London to adjudicate the event which attracted considerable curiosity in the city -- otherwise in the grip of a one day cricket match scheduled a day later -- termed it as a world record in maximum number of persons participating in a single event of ground breaking.

Though Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Urban Development Minister Pratap Singh Singhvi too were expected to join the attempt to break new grounds, they did not turn up in the end.

From a distance they looked as if they were in a public meeting. At a closer look the pundits in their yellow shawls and vermilion on their forehead stood out as they squatted on the ground near the new shovels placed beside them.

The core team of priests, led by Chandrashekhar Sharma from Bangalore formed the first line of pundits encircling the havan kund (the sacred fire pit). From Bangalore alone there were 100 priests at the ceremony.

“It is certainly a world record. I have not seen anything like this before,” Ms.Lacey said as the pundits brought their hour-long chants to a crescendo. The previous world record in ground breaking, set in Oregon, USA, was in September 2003. In that event 2453 persons had shoveled simultaneously to break ground for the building of Providence Newberg Medical Center.

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