Meerut :

The campus of Meerut institute reverberated with Sanskrit slokas as thousands of students and faculty members recited slokas from Bhagwad Gita with an aim to beat a previous world record (for Golden Book of World Records) of ‘most people in a reading relay’. The previous record was made by a group in in Germany five years ago in which 2,012 people participated.

On Wednesday, 3,105 students, including a hundred Muslim students, participated in the relay recitation. After the recitation that went on for more than three hours, Meerut qualified for the entry in the Golden Book of World Records.

Interestingly, the Meerut record also stands to beat the Guinness world record of 3,071 people participating in a similar recitation on September 22, 2015 at Marwari Education Foundation in Rajkot, Rajasthan.

Ruhi Khan, a faculty and HoD, Maths division upto classVIII, told TOI, “It was a mega event and I also volunteered to be part of this international event. I have even learnt the verse by heart.”

Speaking to TOI, Manav Sharma, public relations officer of the institute, said, “The enthusiasm was indeed unprecedented. We did not force anyone to participate but yes to break the record, we needed more than 2,012 students so we had appealed to all our students and the response was overwhelming.”

Manish Vishnoei, National Head India, Golden Book of World Records, said, “The current record is held by Digital Library Skoobe in Leipzig, Germany, on March 16, 2012 when 2012 participants participated in a reading relay (single venue).”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Meerut News / by Sandeep Rai / TNN / February 16, 2017