Lighting candles is a sacred tradition. A lighted Candle can convey much more than what mere words can express. It conveys greetings and gratefulness. People have been lighting candles in sacred places from time immemorial. But, is snuffing candles worthwhile?

Yes, it is. A 21-year old youth from Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu has proved so. He has created a new Guinness record by blowing off 151 candles in a single breath.

A native of Velipattinam, Sankaranarayanan, who performed the feat in January last, has received the certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records.

Sankaranarayanan bettered the record held by David Lamy of France, who extinguished the flame of 117 candles at a time in 2001. Strong and capacious lungs are needed if one were to do this feat. Such lungs result from very deep breathing.

An expert in controlling his breath - an art that he learnt from his yoga master - Sankaranarayanan says "normally, it is difficult to blow even 20 candles in a single breath. I practised breathing exercises to achieve this." He practised it for at least six months increasing the number of candles slowly.

Let more candles be lit, so that more can be snuffed.