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Man enough?
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Ground crawls and wall vaults separated the men from the boys at the Thums Up Hai Dum Challenge
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STEEP CLIMB : A contestant trying to prove he is fit to tackle the Everest - Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
SURE, WE'RE in the post-modern 21st Century, but what really draws the crowds is a good old-fashioned challenge to masculinity. Put simply, hai dum? Translated: "Will you scrape elbows, vault walls, do Tarzan-like rope swings, balance on precarious contraptions and climb sheer surfaces to prove you're a man?" And hundreds of testosterone pumping, hot-blooded (we would assume), gym-obsessed men indeed would.
Entries to the Thums Up Everest Challenge — Hai Dum? contest came pouring in from across India till finalists were short-listed for events in 15 major regional centres. Bangalore was one such regional centre chosen for the second elimination round where over 100 young men (not many women faced similar compulsions to prove their dum, apparently) went through a series of challenges till the quickest competitor was selected regional finalist. Spurred on by the appropriately macho Akshay Kumar in full mountaineering costume advertising the contest, the contestants, mostly in their 20s, sweated it out to prove their mettle.
Each of the regional finalists received a special edition Royal Enfield Thunderbird bike and will proceed to Shivpuri where they will undergo training for a trek to Mount Everest. One finalist will be selected to make the final trek. Bangalore's finalist Rakesh Gaikar, who successfully completed the five obstacles in the final race in a record 46 seconds, came all the way from Mumbai to undertake the Thums Up challenge. He wasn't the only one to make the long journey specifically for this contest.
Vijay Upadhyay, a 27-year-old fitness instructor, also journeyed a whole day from Mumbai after he failed to make it in the finals there. "I just wanted to give myself the confidence that I could do it," he explained after finishing the length of the race in 50 plus seconds. "I don't know anyone here, but the competition in Bangalore is not as hard as in Bombay, so I thought I'd try my luck here. I'd love to go to Shivpuri."
With its promise of bikes, mountains and physical challenges and action hero Akshay Kumar looming over the proceedings, the Thums Up contest seemed hard to resist. Twenty-one-year-old Abhay Nayak skipped his final year exams from engineering college to attempt this challenge. Two years ago he attempted a similar challenge from the National Geographic team. He didn't manage to complete the course but being an avid rock climber, was keen to vie for a chance to go to Mount Everest. "The rope part is the hardest," he said, ruefully as he watched his friend Arun Kumar prepare for the race.
Arun said he hadn't really practised for this race, but has "done some mountaineering in the South and found out about this contest since it came outside my college." He didn't complete it either and it seemed like professional fitness instructors certainly have a head start when it comes to proving their dum.
HEMANGINI GUPTA
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