IMPHAL, April 27: An attempt to record the longest Green Salad today at the Chinjak festival failed with the organizers unable to utilise the targeted 781.3 kgs of vegetables in preparing the salad. The attempt was also marred by a black out which continued for more than 10 minutes, and the organisers failed to provide any proper back up plans.
The attempt was made jointly by Chinjak Festival organisers, Innovative Youth Society in collaboration with Boss Juices in the presence of state Tourism Commissioner KK Chhetry, Deputy Director Dr K Shyamsunder, media persons and public visitors as witnesses.
Vegetables used in preparing the salad include cucumber, onion, tomatoes, cabbage, mint leaves, watermelon, coriander, banana leave, cheese and spices.
Even though the organisers succeeded in preparing the salad in the targeted time, the length and breadth of the salad was uneven at places indicating the inability of the organisers to fully prepare the salad as targeted.
According to the organisers, the attempt was made with the objective to promote the Chinjak festival and subsequently the tourism industry of the state, however due to the black out, the preparation had to be continued in candle light showing the sloppiness of the organisers.
The black-out continued for more than 10 minutes, however, both the Tourism department and the organisers failed to provide any back up and as such the attempt had to be continued in candle light.
This reporter also failed to see any power generator, if there were any, which could be used as back up during the black-out.
Even though the attempt was made with the good intention of promoting the state tourism in front of the various international food stalls participating in the festival, the black-out could only send a bad message to the outside world through the foreign participants.
This reporter was later informed by the organisers that due to the black-out, they could not weigh the left over vegetables, as they were unable to switch on the measuring scale. The reporter had to return back without knowing the actual weight of the left over vegetables.