In India

Ah Liberty....

Let's take a break from talking about fantastic sub-continent for a bit to discuss what today is all about. It's independance day in the states. Our country is great because it promises you 3 very simple things, I'll summarize eveyone's entitled to:

1. Life ...The government promises We won't try to kill you
2. Liberty...The govenrment says you can pretty much do as you like
3. The pursuit of happiness...The government says...sure, go on ,give it a shot.
   

These are not really big things, you probably expect more of the people who live next door to you. (Hey, thanks for not trying to kill me , could you pick up my mail when I go on vacation?)

But for these small promises, people from around the world flock to the shores of America.
Promises 1 is okay in most places, unless you're of a minority ethnic group in which case all bets are off

Promise 2 is in really in short supply around the rest of the planet. This place still has a fairly active censorship board. And next time you get in on an international flight , check out the movie selection, for example Brokeback Mountain was playing on the flight to the U.S. There were other more acceptable movies listed for the flights to China, Dubai...etc.

And number 3...well in most places they don't even give you the illusion of being able to try. Me, I'm actviley pursuing.

And I'll be dammed if I'm going to have the 4th without some american food. Nope, it's got to be hotdogs and beer. Beer I know about, I pretty much nailed that down after I got off the plane. Hotdogs were a little harder, I was going to settle for sikh kababs, but where there's a will, there's....

Mmm...Hotdogs

The ingrediens on a pack of Al Kabeer mutton hotdogs are listed as

• Mutton
• Ice
• Binder

Now binder may well be cardboard or glue... but I think it's gauranteed not to try to reporduce in my gut, and that's all I ask of foodstuffs anymore. Pretty balnd, but the mustard was off the charts.

Oh...Koybayashi (Lance Armstrong's a wuss)

Now for the true hotdog enthusiast there is only one man to look at ...Koybayashi

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/news/story?id=2509226

Again ....6 straight...although as the numbers show he may actually be hitting up against the human limit of consumption.

This man eats at a rate so outrageous it even fills me with a mix of admiration and disgust. Go download a video clip...amazing....

How does he do it? Practice. While others sit and dream of the glory , the true champions are hard at work. Kobayashi trains like a machine. Wake up...eat a hotdog In the shower...eat a hotdog On the bus to work...eat a hotdog. In the japanese hello-kitty themed food court when the lights are out and everyone else has gone home....one more hotdog.
He will be remembered as one of the most dominant 'atheltes' of our time. No question.

Nahi hotdogs pasand hei ?(You don't like hotdogs?)

For those who think this is a waste of a digital camera and a trip to India, there was another draft of this about the 'huddled masses' (and that's what they do when it raining okay, they huddle). I chose to focus on the hotdogs.