The Hindu

Earlier records

• Siddharaju of Bangalore has husked a coconut weighing 4.744 kg, with a circumference of 28 inches in 28.06 seconds in Bangalore in 2003
• Prabhu entered the Limca Book of Records by husking a coconut using his fingernails at Kundapur on February 7, 2001, in 14 seconds

Udupi, Marc 11: An attempt was made to break the Guinness record in husking coconut with teeth here on Friday by Rajesh Prabhu of Shirva town in Udupi district.

Prabhu husked a coconut weighing 4.930 kg with a circumference of 30.5 inches, with his teeth in 29.19 seconds. But since the coconut fell once from his hands, there was confusion on the exact time taken.

Deputy Commissioner in-charge, R. Shantharaj, who came to judge the event, gave Mr. Prabhu a benefit of doubt of 1.19 seconds. Finally it was announced that Mr. Prabhu had husked the coconut with his teeth in 28 seconds.

Confusion

But even this final announcement was not without some confusion. First, Shantharaj said that only one second might have been lost when the coconut fell down. Then he said that two seconds might have been lost. Finally he and other Government officials decided that 1.19 seconds were lost.

Prabhu on Friday attempted to better the record of Siddharaju of Bangalore. Siddharaju had husked a coconut weighing 4.744 kg, with a circumference of 28 inches in 28.06 seconds in Bangalore in 2003.

According to Rajesh, the Guinness requirement for Friday's event is a coconut weighing 4.53 kg with a circumference of 17.7 inches.

No representative

When presspersons asked Prabhu why no representative from the Guinness Book of World Records was present to record Friday's event, he said that the organisation had written to him that he could perform the event and get it attested by two gazetted officers.

Prabhu, a diploma holder in automobile engineering, entered the Limca Book of Records by husking a coconut using his fingernails at Kundapur on February 7, 2001, in 14 seconds.