Meet the Kulkarnis: India's tallest family with a combined height of 26ft hope to set a new world record
Family is so tall they never use public transport and ride scooters instead Sharad Kulkarni, 52, is 7ft 1.5ins tall and his wife Sanjot, 46, is 6ft 2.6ins tall Their daughters are both over 6ft and want to be models
They stand out wherever they go and now India's tallest family is hoping to set a new world record with their combined height. The Kulkarnis, from the city of Pune in the east of the country, tower above their countrymen. Sharad Kulkarni, 52, stands at 7ft 1.5ins tall and his wife Sanjot, 46, is 6ft 2.6ins tall. Their daughters Mruga, 22, and Sanya, 16, are 6ft 1ins and 6ft 4ins respectively. The family's combined height is a staggering 26ft.
Pune: The Kulkarnis, stand out wherever they go, as they are the country's tallest family. They are now hoping to set a new world record with their combined height. Sharad Kulkarni, 52, stands at 7ft 1.5-inch tall and his wife Sanjot, 46, is 6ft 2.6-inches tall. Their daughters, 22-year-old Mruga and 16-year-old Sanya, are 6ft 1inch and 6ft 4inches respectively. The four-member family's combined height is a staggering 26ft.
The couple was crowned India's tallest couple by Limca Book of Records after they married in 1989. They had hoped to be named the world's tallest couple by the Guinness Book of Records, until it emerged that Wayne and Laurie Hallquist, from Stockton, California, stand a combined inch taller at 13ft 4 inches.
Is it only me, or does the concept of a "tallest" family based on adding their individual heights seemed incorrect? A family with 8 children averaging 5 foot each would easily qualify as the tallest family according to this plan.
Agreed. The tallest average height for the family members makes more sense to me. But even then, the gender makeup of the family should be taken into account, IMO.
Agreed. And if gender would be taken into account, then etnicity should be treaten the same way?? A family from The Phillipines would need some inches in advantage compared to a family from Holland??
This suggests that we need an "height exchange rate" to match the one used for different currencies around the world. Once this catches on, and gains general acceptance, the Olympics are going to get very complicated as each athlete's results are measured in his or her own countries official units, then converted to compare the results of other contestants. You may run the 100 metres very quickly, but was that the "Dutch metre", or the "Japanese metre" ....
On the Guinness World Records website, Neil Fingleton says: "I am one of three siblings - my sister who is 6'3" is the eldest at 30, my brother is 6'8" who is 29 and I am 7'7" at 26… my mother is 6 foot and my father was also. My great grandfather was 6'8". I have always been taller than everyone since I can remember. My height really took off when I reached 11 and was touching 7 foot. By the time I was 16 I was 7'5" and stopped growing at 18 when I was 7'7.56".
They know that invent ridiculous title to fame. Neil's family may well have that title, or any large family of 5 or 6 members of Dutch adults, or Watutsis, Dinka, or some other tribe.
The last time Sharad Kulkarni and his wife Sanjot went to a movie theatre together was in 1990, for a premiere show of Agneepath, starring Amitabh Bachchan. Outings are rare if a pair has been crowned the tallest couple in the country. "The tall (Amitabh) Bachchan, who had come for the premiere of his film, looked short before mom and dad,"says their daughter Mruga in jest.
But behind the joke, lies a grim story: the Kulkarnis, who are staking a claim for being the tallest family in the Guinness Book of World Records, rarely go out together as they can do without the dropping jaws and jeering hoots. "So much of negative attention is disturbing ," says 16-year-old Saniya, the youngest daughter who at 6ft 4in, is taller than her sister by 3 inches.
