New Delhi

ON a sticky morning last week, deputy commissioner Chandra Shekhar Sahukar of India's Agriculture Ministry (animal husbandry department, small ruminant section) found himself in a yoga class for the first time in his 57 years, miserably grasping his ankle.

In his bag he carried a photocopy of a memorandum advising senior officials to familiarise themselves with certain postures ahead of International Yoga Day this Sunday, when they will take part in a mass outdoor yoga session scheduled to begin at 7 am. The session is intended to qualify for the Guinness Book of World Records, the memo says, warning: "If some officials turn up without practice, there will be risk of the record claim being affected."