India hosts world's largest tea party

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - More than 32,000 people sipped their way into a new world record as India hosted the world's largest tea party in Indore.

"From an industrialist to the man on the street, a cup of tea is a major bonding factor in India," said Sanjay Mani, general manager of the Dainik Bhaskar newspaper, which helped arrange the event.

Living up to its reputation of a nation fond of its tea, thousands of tea drinkers queued outside the Nehru Stadium in Indore over the weekend for the record-breaking feat.

An adjudicator from Guinness World Records kept an eye on proceedings.

"We wanted to break and double a record held by Japan and thereby set a target of 30,000 tea drinkers sitting down at the same time sipping their mugs of steaming tea," Mani said.

Nearly 1,000 volunteers served tea to 32,681 participants while an electronic counting machine kept track of the total number of people taking part in the event.

Japan's Nishio city entered the Guinness World Records in 2006 by hosting the largest simultaneous tea party where 14,718 people took part.

The event, a fundraiser for development of Indore, was adjudicated by Francesca D'Asdia, who handed out a certificate to the organisers recognising their attempt as a new world record, Mani said.

"It was unbelievable," said Rupali Dutta, Director Marketing of the Tea Board of India. "The gallery was full, people sat with their mugs waiting for the event to start, the atmosphere was quite festive."

The Tea Board was the co-sponsor for the event along with Hindustan Unilever Ltd, which makes consumer goods.