The longest fingernails on a single hand, the longest hair on a teenager and the largest collection of paper cups are among 80 achievements by Indians to make it to the latest edition of the Guinness World Records. The book Guinness World Records 2020, released by publisher Penguin Random House on Thursday, listed thousands of new titles and holders, which will “educate and entertain curious readers of all ages”.

Nilanshi Patel, a 16-year-old from Gujarat, held the title for the longest hair on a teenager with her five feet and seven inch-long mane. Shridhar Chillal from Pune in Maharashtra held the record for the longest fingernails on a single hand. A nail on his left hand, last measured in 2014, was 909.6 cm long.

The shortest woman living (mobile) is Jyoti Amge, who is 62.8 cm tall. Amge, a resident of Nagpur in Maharashtra, has held the record since December 2011.

Jotshna Mishra and Durga Charan from Puri in Odisha created a record for making “the longest journey by scheduled public transport in a single country”. They travelled 29,119 kilometre across India between February 18, 2018, and March 30, 2018.

V Sankaranarayanan, a resident of Tamil Nadu, held the title for the largest collection of paper cups – 736, while R Naveen Kumar from the state’s capital city of Chennai created a record by skating under 10 bars in 2.06 seconds.

In Gujarat, a group of 1,982 people created a record for the most persons receiving henna tattoos simultaneously on February 3, 2018. Chandigarh-based Arpit Lall held the title for the most grapes eaten with the feet in three minutes. On February 25, 2018, he ate 53 grapes.

The record for the most people dancing with swords is 1,080. It was created at an event organised by Dr H Ashalatha Guruprasad in Bangalore, Karnataka, on June 23, 2018.

The city of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh held the title for the world’s most polluted city after an analysis of a World Health Organization report showed that it had an average PM2.5 level of 173 micrograms per cubic metre for 2016. This is over 17 times more than the world body’s recommendation of maximum 10 micrograms per m3. PM2.5 are extremely small particles, including soot, dust, and ash, which can cause severe ailments on prolonged exposure. Out of the world’s 20 most PM2.5-polluted places, 14 are Indian cities.


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