A round of applause, please, for the Indian man who recently sang for 80 hours straight, setting a new Guinness world record. It's an impressive feat, to be sure, but let's just hope he still has a voice.According to Indian newspapers, Rajesh Burbure has been told to keep silent for several days so his vocal cords can heal. It was reported that Burbure and his family are in a celebratory mood. "It's a proud moment for all of us," his wife told DNAIndia.com. I, on the other hand, am unable to share their enthusiasm.Don't get me wrong: I hope the 35-year-old Burbure lives forever, sells a million records and becomes an international celebrity.But his record--singing for 80 hours straight--is about as meaningful as most of the other curious but crazy feats listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. Granted, I'm not qualified to speak on the subject.I've got no world records to my name, and I never expect to have any.Then again, maybe I am qualified to speak for those of us who have better things to do than train for years to sing an 80-hour medley of pop songs. But let's not just pick on poor Burbure.He's not the only person chasing meaningless accolades .The Guinness Book of World Records is full of the names of people who at one time grew the longest hair, or built the biggest bicycle, or baked the largest cheesecake. To all of these enterprising souls I ask, simply, "What was it all for?" Congratulations! For all of your painstaking effort, you became a footnote in a thick book that no one reads, except for you and the person who will eventually surpass you, with one more hour of singing, a few more centimeters of steel or a few more pounds of cheese. After all, records are made to be broken. Before someone wins a Guinness record, he or she has to   _  .
become an international celebrity know all about Guinness records practice a great deal bear great stress for fear of injury