When Jack Black said, “ One great rock show can change the world!” It was a lesson I took extremely seriously.
But what happened at the Invasion festival a couple of weeks ago brought in a whole new perspective to the adage.
One of the greatest perks of working at Hungry Hogs is finding a way to weasel into the food stalls at some of the biggest concerts and festivals around.
This time around, we skillfully maneuvered our way around the red tape (read incessant phone call making and harrowing the organizers and such.)
So yeah! Yours truly catered to the hungry masses at the Invasion music festival at Palace Grounds.
Me being a HUGE (no pun intended) Prodigy and Pendulum fan couldn’t contain my excitement. (Which my therapist tells me isn’t a very good thing. Kidding. I doesn't need therapy.) I was planning on playing hooky from work and going for the concert myself anyway, but as the fates would have it, our illustrious partners saw it more of a money making venture than a chance to have fun and set down the ground work of setting up a stall there.
Let me just come out and vent about this one thing that’s been on my mind since that day. We weren’t allowed to carry our kit or a gas cylinder for B S security reasons. We were pretty much left between a rock and a really high place with no sight of how far the hard place below us was.
So we packed off to the nearest appliances store and got ourselves an electric burner. For the uninitiated, it’s what we call a hot-plate these days. With absolutely no idea how well we’d work with our less than perfect surrogate kit; I closed my eyes and prayed for a miracle. (An uphill battle of wills and principles for an agnostic I might add.)
The day finally came and amidst the chaos of preparation and a deluge of orders at the diner we set out, late, tired and antsy to get started.
Whatever mental maths we learned in school, we tried to apply in our given situation. The factors being the surging crowds we served at strawberry fields and our exponential expectations of the crowd we were gonna face.
Turns out our math is only as good as our accounting skills.
Prodigy was pretty insane. The opening acts did their best to rile up the crowd, playing some pretty good Drum ‘n’ Bass. The kind of music I have only recently become a big fan of and didn’t know was so popular in our fair city.
The crowd was actually very sparse, nothing like the turnout of a concert this awesome should have been. The beverage counter (Non-veg drinks) was strategically located right across our stall.
Though the alcohol was flowing all night, there weren’t too many nefarious characters around. (My ex was one of them =>)
When prodigy came on. We lost it. They opened with their new track ‘World’s On Fire,’ and for the first couple of seconds we were oblivious to all the people standing around us clamoring for their hot dogs.
They played an amazing set and totally blew the meager crowd away. When the show was over, the cops jumped into action herding and shooing the stragglers away, even harassing the few customers that were trying to get their last few hot dogs.
Once everything was over and the people were gone. Liam Howlett; keyboardist, mastermind and overall awesome guy of Prodigy came around and surveyed the land. I walked up to him and shook his hand, whacked the set list from an organizer acquaintance and got his autograph on it. (anyone who wants to buy it off me is more than welcome to make an offer)
It was by far one of the most greatest moments I have ever had as part of this team.
Invasion aside, January was a great month, with more and more people walking in through the doors of our diners. (read as KA CHING!!!)
Recently Dale Boone, World Champion Professional Eater and WLOCE legend came by. Here are the (embellished and overly dramatized) excerpts from the conversation.
Dale: I hear Ya’ll have competition for me.
Us: Yeah. His name is Satyan. Satyan Kotekar. He is our reigning champion right now.
Dale: Not for long. How many did he eat?
Us: 8 Monster Say Cheese in under an hour.
Dale: (scoffs) Am I supposed to be impressed?
Us: Ummm. I don’t know. Are you?
Dale: This town ain’t big enough for the both of us. I’m gonna do 15 monsters in 15 minutes.
A part of us wanted to scoff, but seeing this man demolish food on youtube has us second guessing our selves.
Us: Ok. If you say so.
So he comes down a few days ago and asks us to fire up the stoves. It was show time.
A small crowd has gathered around and it’s republic day. Dale looks out at the crowd and asks them to cheer one
Dale: Every time I finish up a dog, you guys shout, “Jai Ho!”
The crowd agrees and the man starts.
The first one vanishes and the crown chants Jai Ho.
He grabs two and downs them, the astonished crowd chants again.
And one after the other, he gets a Jai Ho.
At around the seventh minute, he’s broken Satyan’s record. I feel really bad for Satyan.
The man is till going strong but there are beads of perspiration forming on his brow.
The monsters seem to getting the better of him. But the crowd’s right there cheering him on. And he’s doing everything he can to not disappoint them.
But the 12th monster is a fickle one. It stops Dale right in his tracks.
You need to understand that 10 monsters is a whole kilo of chicken. How much can one man take.
Dale Boone is now the new record holder. 12 Monster hot dogs in 15 minutes.
Here's the record breaking footage
Well, that is pretty much all that happened this past few days. It has been a great month and the Hogs family grows stronger and stronger.
A big shout out to all those who have been a part of this awesome ride that was January.
Keep coming back to know what’s been happening at your favorite hot dog destination in Bangalore.
Peace, Love and Hot Dogs.
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