Mysuru: Two city youths — M.V. Subbakrishna and V. Nikhil Prabhu — are among the 150 members of Indian Whistlers’ Association (IWA) who will be attempting a National Record of ‘Most People Whistling Together’ on Feb.25 at Cochin between 12 noon and 5 pm.

The team includes partici¬pants from across India — Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, MP, UP, Punjab, Karnataka, Puducherry, Delhi and also from abroad — USA, UAE.

M.V. Subbakrishna, who works as Head-Competency Centre/ESK Labs at Excelsoft Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Mysuru, speaking to Star of Mysore, said that he has been prac¬tising Musical Whistling since childhood but was unaware that it can be taken up as an art then. Later after learning about the Whistlers’ Association, he took it seriously and gave per¬formances during Rajyotsava celebrations at Excelsoft last year and company’s Annu¬al Day celebrations this year.

V. Nikhil Prabhu, who works as Senior Manager – Finance at Automotive Axles Limited, Mysuru, though has not performed much on stage or in public, has been practicing the art since more than 20 years.

Now the duo will be part of the team that is taking part in Limca Book of Records attempt where the group will be whistling two patriotic songs — “Saare Ja¬han Se Achha and Hum Honge Kamyab” — in unison under the leadership of Rigveda Deshpandey, the Founder-President of Indian Whistlers’ Association and Jyothi Kamath, the Kerala Centre Spokesperson, at Kochi Municipal Corporation Town Hall, Kerala, on Feb.25.

The duration of the Limca Book attempt is about 8 min¬utes. They would be attempting to break their own record  of 48 whistlers made in 2008.

IWA will be eligible to enter Limca Book of Records, 2019 edition, subject to a successful attempt as per guidelines and criteria given by the Limca Book.

Internationally, whistling has a strong presence in Japan and China. The Japan Whistling Confederation (JWC), established in 2011, promotes the art by organising whistling events and supporting whistlers.

In India whistling is marred by superstition; many believe that whistling indoors brings poverty or that whistling after dark attracts snakes.