78-year-old Shridhar Chillal is a regular guy from Pune, Maharashtra. Just that he stopped cutting his nails five years after Independence. As a result THIS happened:
Just this week, the Guinness Book of World Records verified that the 78-year-old has the longest fingernails on a single hand in the world. He’s been growing them for 62 YEARS and they clock in at a cumulative 358.1 inches. Woah!
Shridhar Chillal has been growing his nails since he was 16, inspired by a teacher who told him he would never appreciate how hard it was to lose a nail until he tried to grow them himself. And so Shridhar continued with this crazy, impressive feat despite the fact that it made it very difficult for him to find work or love.
The nails are not without their complications.
Shridhar has to turn every half hour or so in bed to make sure he doesn’t crush his fingernails. However, he enjoys being recognised everywhere he goes and boasts: “I never have to wait in a queue”.
Shridhar plans to cut them sometime in the near future and donate them to a museum, but won’t say when.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)