It's a highly competitive world out there. There is competition in just about anything and guess what, Chennai loves it! This was proven at Chit Chat's ice-cream eating contest.
Last Saturday was one of the typical dog days but Chit Chat in Teynampet was full of people ranging from the age of 10 to 50, all warming up and preparing the stomach muscles for maximum expansion. Fifteen minutes were given to the excited gluttons within which time they had to hog as much as ice-cream possible and stack the empty cups for the final count. Friends and families thoroughly cheered on the participants. They clapped in rhythm, yelled slogans, jumped, hoorayed, roared and some of them were even found praying.
Indulgence
The kids bravely decided to compete with the adults and didn't want a separate round for themselves. Eleven-year-old Yash was oozing with confidence and assured it wasn't a big deal competing with “aunties and uncles”. Every player was full of determination. The gentlemen unleashed the wild child in them and pounced on the ice cream cartons. The women were not least bit embarrassed about ice cream dripping from their over-stuffed mouths. Some of them looked so serious that it made one wonder if they were skilfully applying the principles and techniques to maximise efficiency of time-bound self-feeding.
Koushik, the winner of round two, who managed to eat 31 cups of ice cream never expected to win. His main motive for contesting was that he could binge on as much ice-creams as he could for just Rs.150 which was the participation fee. The runner-up Kota Karthik, with a score of 29 cups, shared the secret his success: skipping his lunch before the contest. Round 3 was especially interesting because Praveen Kumar and Sukesh broke the previous records with a score of 34 cups each. Praveen Kumar had always been an ice cream freak and said that if he had more time he would have accommodated some more ice-cream. Sukesh on the other hand had to work hard after the 25th cup.
Matt and his girlfriend Mimi were the only foreigners at the contest. Matt confessed that he would not be able to win the contest but he wanted to beat Mimi's score. Mimi was found smugly smiling at Matt who scored only half as much as she did. They both love Chennai and are ready for more such competitions.
After the fourth round came the most-awaited tie-breaker round. Chefs, Managers, CEO and other staffs of Chit Chat couldn't help being a part of the excitement around the showdown between Praveen Kumar and Sukesh. The ice cream carton opened and the five-minute count down began.
Grand finale
The difficulty of having more than 34 cups of ice cream started to show on their faces. Their pace slowed down, lips looked numb and eyes reddened. Praveen had reached his super saturated level and gave up as he completed his sixth cup and had to watch Sukesh finish his seventh. Sukesh, the ultimate winner, was rewarded with two days of free stay at Andaman Islands. The contestants and spectators enjoyed the experience and suggested more such contests involving juice, beer, Biryani, watermelon, Appalam…watch out for more!
Manaswini is a II Year student of M.A. Media Management at M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women.
