The annual elephant festival in Surin attracted more than the usual attention last week after featuring an attempt to enter the hallowed Guinness Book of Records. Alas, the only record achieved was that hundreds of student "volunteers" roasted in the sun, exposed for hours to high temperatures reaching 39C.
In what the organisers promoted as a "historic moment" the students had gathered in the open air Elephant Show Arena in an attempt to set the world record for "the number of elephant dolls folded from Surin fabric in one sitting". One suspects that would have been one of the more obscure records to appear in the Guinness publication.
There is no question the dolls are very attractive and worth promoting because weaving is an important part of Surin's economy. But considering the heat perhaps more thought should have been given to the students with at least some kind of roof to provide shade.
