On tabla for record 102 hours

At the dead of night residents of Kadalundi were out on the street to cheer Sudheer Kadalundi as he ended his marathon tabla session of 102 hours. A report by Ramesh Babu.

At the dead of night residents of Kadalundi were out on the street to cheer Sudheer Kadalundi as he ended his marathon tabla session of 102 hours breaking his own record of 57 hours. He ended his rendition at 2 pm on Monday and set a world record.

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The small town, 25 kms north of Kozhikode, wore a festive look. Almost the entire town had gathered around the specially erected podium to greet Sudheer (40). They danced in tandem with the mellifluous rhythm he played on his instrument and distributed sweets. A group of playback singers and instrumentalists gave a good company to the exhausted performer throughout his session.

“Besides breaking my own record I wanted to send a message to the youth that nothing is impossible. What you need is a will and correct approach, rest will follow,” the exhausted but cheerful performer said. He started learning at a young age, he had set a record in 2005 playing 57 hours non-stop.

“According to Guinness rules he can take five minutes’ rest after every hour of his performance. Initially he was taking 20 minutes rest after four hours. But on the last day he took five minutes rest after every hour. Though he was exhausted a bit he made it in style,” media convener of the event Abdul Azeez said. Six live cameras recorded the whole event and the tapes would be handed over to the Guinness authorities soon.