Mah singer sold off home utensils to pay last respects to Rafi

Nagpur, Jan 18 (PTI) Sunil Waghmare, who recently set anew record of singing for more than 93 hours is a die hard fanof late Mohammad Rafi and was so upset on learning his demisethat he decided to sell his home utensils to arrange financesfor attending the funeral of the legendary singer in Mumbai.

The city-based professional singer had no source ofincome as a young boy in the 80s when Rafi passed away. He wasfetching water at a public drinking water facility when heheard of his sudden demise.

Waghmare recalls that he immediately threw away the waterfilled in the two big brass containers and went to a scrapdealer and sold both the vessels for Rs 60 which was sufficentfor him to catch a train to reach Mumbai, leaving his poorfamily puzzled.

The 49-year-old professional, who made it to the funeral,has today made a name for himself by singing Rafi numbers andsays he was inspired to set the marathon singing recordbecause of his love for the late legend.

According to Dr Anil Bajaj, his physician Waghmare didyoga and hence enjoyed normal health, due to which he wasallowed to attempt the feat.

Waghmare was given dry fruits, strong coffee, ginger tea,clove and steam inhalation time to time to keep him fit, andhis voice consistent, the doctor said.

Waghmare set the new record recently by singing for 93.20hours on a stretch with permissible breaks, the video recordof which have been sent to the Guiness Book of Records fortheir approval, Bajaj added.