Ganesh Chaturthi: Confectioner makes 7,000kg laddoo, eyes Guinness World Records

Rajahmundry: A confectioner here is making efforts to prepare the world`s `heaviest` laddoo and enter the Guinness World Records for the third time.

A laddoo weighing 7,000kg is ready for tomorrow`s Vinayaka Chaturthi festival organised by the Rajahmahendri Ganesh Utsav Committee (RGUC) at Pushkar Ghat in Rajahmundry in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. "We are preparing a 7,000kg laddoo for which the order was placed by RGUC. It will be handed over to the organisers tomorrow at 10 AM," S Venkatswara Rao, two-time Guinness record holder and owner of Sri Bhakatanjaneya Sweets in the district`s Tapeswaram, told PTI. The confectioner has used 2,000kg sugar, 2,000kg Bengal gram (chana dal), 1,500kg ghee and other ingredients, including cashew, almonds, cardamom and green camphor, to make the laddoo, which he said, would be taken in a procession to Pushkhar Ghat from Tapeswaram at 8 AM. "The laddoo prepared with the help of 16 workers is ready. We have applied for a Guinness Book entry for the third time as our laddoo will be the heaviest prepared anywhere in the world. "We have made it to the Guinness Book twice, in 2011 and 2012," he added. The approximate cost of the laddoo is Rs 14.80 lakh, he said, adding that more than 500 laddoos have been prepared and another 150 orders have been received. "Our laddoos have been ordered by Telangana region`s Nizamabad, Hyderabad, Coastal Andhra Pradesh districts, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and other parts of the state," he said, adding that the ongoing Samaikhyandhra agitation had not impacted his business. "We received 90 orders more than last year`s 410 orders. We prepare laddoos weighing between 5kg to 5,000kg," he said. Incidentally, the festival this time is dedicated to the ongoing Samaikhyandhra agitation for a "united" Andhra Pradesh. RGUC spokesperson Ramamohan Rao told reporters yesterday that, this year, it would perform what it has termed the "Samaikhyha Homam" and chant the "Samaikhya Mantra" for nine days. "We have named the laddoo and the Vinayaka idol as Samaikhya laddoo and Samaikhya Vinayaka, dedicating it to the ongoing Samaikhyandhra Pradesh agitation," he said. PTI