Dr Kauromal M. Chandiramani (India, b. 9 May 1899), practised as a general practitioner in Bombay for 75 years 198 days from 22 September 1923–9 May 1999, to the age of 100. . He obtained his medical degree, L.C.P.S (the first medical qualification to be introduced during British rule in India) from Sind, India (now Pakistan) in 1923. Despite retiring on 14 February 1957, he set up his own Genral Practice. Aged 104 when awarded the record, he claims to have remained celibate following the Continue reading →

The world´s rarest civet is the Malabar large-spotted civet (Viverra civettina). Once a very common species and a major source of civet musk, today it is categorized by the IUCN as Critically Endangered. It is possible that less than 250 individuals still exist in the wild in South Malabar, southern India.

In 2011 the Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, India, overtook the Tirupati Temple (also India) to become the world’s richest Hindu temple after the chance discovery of secret cellars at the temple uncovered a vast treasure of gold, silver and precious jewels believed to be worth at least £12 billion (then approx. $18 billion).

The shortest known living teenager (female) is Jyoti Amge (India, b. 16 December 1993) who was measured by a team of doctors in Tokyo, Japan, for Bikkuri Chojin 100 Special #2 (Fuji TV), and found to be 61.95 cm (2 ft) on 6 September 2009. 15 years old Jyoti loves fashion and make-up and her dream is to become an actress.

The song sung in the most languages by one individual is ‘Golden Dreams of Gandhiji’ by Dr. Kesiraju Srinivas, a.k.a. Ghazal Srinivas (India), who recorded the track in 125 different languages and released it as a double CD album entitled ‘The Path of Mahatma Gandhi’ on 2 December 2009. The languages include Amharic, Bengali, Croatian, Danish, Esperanto, Fijian, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Kashmiri, Lengmai, Malay, Nepali, Oromifa, Polish, Russian, Sanskrit, Tagalog, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Wolof and Zulu. The only letters of the alphabet not covered are: Continue reading →

The tallest paddy plant (Oryza sativa) in the world measured 2.8m (9 ft 2 in) tall in 2005 and was grown by Tanaji Nikam (India) in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India.

A total of 246 people were killed during a hailstorm at Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India on 20 April 1888.

The youngest director of a professionally made feature length film is Kishan Shrikanth (born 6 January 1996), who directed C/o Footpath (India, 2006), about an orphaned boy who wants to go to school, when he was 9 years old. The film is adapted from a short story he wrote himself, and the cast includes prominent Indian actors Jackie Shroff, Saurabh Shukla, and Thaara. Kishan himself plays the lead. Kishan Shrikanth (born 6 January 1996), professionally known as Kishan or Master Kishan, is a Kannada-language actor Continue reading →

The record for the youngest professional artist was achieved by Arushi Bhatnagar (India, b. 1 June 2002). She had her first solo exhibition at the Kalidasa Akademi in Ujjain, India, on 11 May 2003 when she was 344 days (or 11 months) old. Her first painting was sold for 5000 Rupee (£65). As of 27 February 2007 Arushi had 12 solo exhibitions, made more than 2,500 paintings and was nominated for the national POGO amazing kid artist award 2005.

The largest blood donation involved 43,732 participants and was organised by Saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan (India) at Dera Sacha Sauda, Haryana, India, on 8 August 2010. Each participant donated a unit of blood.