Report by Viju Mangalore
Mangalore, Mar 26: [12.45 IST]: The attempt to break the Guinness Record for the longest lecture left the Mangalore University lecturer utterly fatigued.
Unable to carry on with the lecturer, Dr Annaiah Ramesh applied botany lecturer in Mangalore University wound up his lecture after consistent 95 hours of lecturing. With aching legs and sleepless nights playing a spoil sport, Dr Ramesh ended his marathon lecture at 11.30 am on Sunday, March 26, 2006.
A daring venture, Dr Ramesh spoke continuously for three days and three nights. Although he took permissible breaks was unable to keep up the pace on the last day. On several occasions he would doze even when writing on the black board. This aside, the 35- year-old lecturer had his students, colleagues and professors to support and encourage him.
Although his fatigued body could not take him to the 101 hour target, Dr Ramesh surpassed an existing Guinness record to complete 80 hours of non-stop teaching without any teaching aids at 7.15 pm on Saturday, March 25. The previous record of 72 hours and nine minutes, which stands in the name of Narayanan Shivashankar from Hyderabad, was broken by Dr Ramesh.
The next mile stone was to surpass the 88 hours and four seconds of non-stop teaching achieved by a South African national Musawazi (yet to be ratified by Guinness book of records.). Dr Ramesh achieved it on Sunday, March 26, 2006 at 11.45 am.
On Sunday March 26 morning Dr Ramesh was unable to continue when his professor from the crowd cheered him up. The words “Ramesh you should speak for me for 2 hours” worked like a magic spell and churned out a blow of synergy. Dr Ramesh spoke with vigour for more a three hours.
The entire lecture has been recorded by a crew of four technicians and cameramen from CAD Media and will be sent to the Guinness Book of World Records for Ratification.
Mother of Dr Ramesh
The students who extended constant support to Dr Ramesh all through his 95-hour lecture burst crackers on Sunday noon. Dr Ramesh was rushed to the hospital for a complete medical check up.
The speaker, in order to break the record, is not supposed to pause for more than 30 seconds in course of the lecture. However, he could take a pause of 15 minutes after every 8 hours of lecture. But on several occasion, Ramesh is said to have extended his silence beyond the permissible time. Will this be held against him and result in the deprivation of the record?
Let’s wait and watch.