How You Could Have Entered The Books of Records

 

Yahoo News reports that an Indian woman hopes to enter the record books by munching 51 fiery chillies in two minutes.  Anandita Dutta Tamuly, 26, chewed her way through the chillies before an audience late Thursday in India’s northeast.

For details see: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20090410/tod-indian-woman-aims-for-chilli-record-451ab4f.html

She consumed the chillies in the company of British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, who was producing a television show on food and anchoring the event in Jorhat, 300 kilometers (180 miles) east of Assam’s main city of Guwahati. “In two minutes, Anandita gobbled 51 red-hot chillies without batting an eyelid or shedding a tear, and also smeared seeds of 25 chillies into her eyes in one minute,” Atul Lahkar, a chef who organised the show, told AFP. The chillies are known locally as bhut jolokia and are a staple of local diet in Assam. They are recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s hottest chilli pepper.

It is well known that Indians like to enter the record books by making a name for themselves by doing the oddest things. In addition to the Guinness Book of Records, India has its own Limca Book of Records. Both feature many Indian feats covering many crazy but interesting aspects of life. Why do they do it?

These feats, achievements or successful records are all attributable to the following common denominators, which are fame, recognition and money. It is unlikely that the books of records will pay much to publish the achievements. The real incentive is money in the future via sponsorship, appearances on stage and fees for appearing on television and payment for appearing at private functions. Many successful ‘performers’ have done very well indeed.

What type of achievements could the East African Asians get into the record books? Here are some thoughts which you could have helped to turn into reality:

·       A record for fighting the largest man-eating lion with one’s bare hands in the Tsavo area?

·       A record for sleeping with largest number of black mamba snakes in one’s bed?

·       A record for growing the largest cassava root in one’s shamba or smallholding?

·       A record for swimming with the largest number of crocodiles in Lake Victoria?

·       A record for displaying largest number of yoga positions whilst travelling on the roof of the East African trains from Kampala to Mombasa?

·       Success in running faster than the speediest cheetah in the game park?

·       Achievement for drinking the highest number of pints of pombe, or beer?

·       Successes in driving in reverse from Kampala to Jinja with Idi Amin as a passenger?

 

 

 

 

A few responses- but not as you would like them!

 

My post on ‘Nyama Choma’ was critical of lifestyles of the wahindis in Kenya who seem to be caught up in a life of ‘aish-o-ishrat’ or indulgence.  Now, it was not a criticism of young Sikhs only. But they do tend to have the ‘resources’ to make the daily evening barbeque a possibility. Here are the ingredients. Start by developing an interest in spicy food and alcohol. Add the bucketful of friendships and fellowships they have forged over a lifetime. Mix the two generously with good humour and freedom to speak their minds when the women are not within earshot. Bring the party to a boil everyday and you have the ultimate matata of your choice. The access to a workshop or a personally owned building (because many Sikhs run building and technical trades) creates the right environment to serve the nyama choma without incurring the wrath of the wife or neighbours and also make the task of cleaning up much easier as the workshop staff look after those boring details.

Are young Sikhs more hedonistic than the Gujarati or Muslim youngsters? I am afraid I do not have answers or the evidence to be able to sustain that assertion or to deny it. Occupational choice or decisions to work in certain types of business are probably no longer dictated by family histories or inheritance. In the past, the most of the young Sikh entrepreneurs ran building related contracting firms which were started by their fathers. The new generation brought more insights and confidence to the business; they were more organised and in some cases better qualified than their fathers. Business was invariably male dominated unless the enterprise belonged to Gujarati or Ismaili families where women could also be involved.  

The next point which attracted significant comment was that the highly hedonistic lifestyles, with their incumbent challenges to health and welfare are no longer the preserve of the Sikhs. This impression was not intended. Yes, non-Sikh men, largely Gujarati and Hindu Panjabi, may also be indulging in similar spicy barbeques and other pursuits and successfully harming themselves on a daily basis. Isn’t that great? No. Why? Because sharing a habit of persistent substance abuse with other communities does not make it right.  Then why does the young Asian go through the celebratory ritual of nyama choma or other forms of male dominated hedonism on a daily basis, as I have seen and reported recently? The answer lies in culture and sociology to a great extent.

One can only ask challenging questions. The answers tend to vary. There is no ‘one solution fits all’ cases.  Some of the men are possibly very lonely and do not have close friendships with their spouses. Arranged marriages and differences in religious practice may have impact on relationships. Other men may be bored by the discipline and conformity expected at home. Most wives will not support large number of friends of their husbands to ‘storm’ the house regularly and make demands for large quantities of food. The presence of noisy men may also send wrong signals to children. So the best solution is to have the ‘time of their lives’ as some see it by hiding in the firm or workshop. Finally, where the wife runs a strictly vegetarian and ‘kosher’ household and where ‘meat’ is not allowed to be consumed in the family home, the men may be ‘driven’ to find other venues.  Let us also not forget that where there are ‘grown up’ daughters in the home, the intrusion of strange men cannot be a source of comfort to a protective housewife. All these explanations may be relevant but other factors may also prevail.

It’s the end result; the impact on family life and health of the nyama choma men that needs to be addressed. As good old Mukesh, the popular Bollywood playback singer used to say, “Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isai; sabh ko mera salaam”. This was translated in the original context as ‘I salute the Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian as equals.’