Sid Mewara is very clear about one thing. He will never eat rajma or dal ever again. “I ate so much that I was traumatised. I lost 15 kgs with this near-death weight loss programme,” says the former chef turned venture capitalist, talking about his experience with I Should Have Stayed Home, a new adventure travel series by Warner Bros. Discovery India.
The series, which captures the journey of Sid (46) and his cousin, Shashank “Shanky” Jayakumar (37), on a 1000 kilometre-long treacherous drive in the Himalayas in their trusty 4X4 vehicles, unaided by phones, GPS, or money, promises to be hilarious, going by a sneak peek into their first episode, which launched on September 11..
“How do you pick the two fattest dudes to go for an adventure show?” asks Sid, who co-hosts the popular food entertainment show, The Big Forkers with Shanky. The bio on their YouTube channel, which has around 52.7K subscribers, describes it as ‘An irreverent, unapologetic, uncensored food and travel show that explores cuisine and culture from main street to high street. Where the hosts review, refresh, and sometimes reject widely held notions of what is good or bad food.’
The series will premier on September 11 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Off-roading through the Himalayas, however, requires a very different skill set from eating your way through cities like Mumbai, Goa and Bengaluru, agrees Shanky, who is a consultant with the World Bank, motorcycle enthusiast and self-proclaimed speed junkie. “I have always loved living at the edge, and that’s what my biking experience has always taught me, but this is the first time I have put those learnings to use for my survival,” he says, adding that he promised his fitness trainer a television if he came back alive and uninjured. “I had to gift him one,” he adds.
Talking about the genesis of I Should Have Stayed Home, Sid says that it started with conversations about some other “more food-related” project. Then Sai Abishek, Head, Factual and Lifestyle Cluster, South Asia, Warner Bros. Discovery, proposed this idea. He liked the favour of The Forkers. It was a little irreverent, edgy and out there,” says Sid. “He thought that we would be perfect for this.” Shanky, however, adds that he still asks himself this: “Why us?
The sassy, slightly brash and refreshingly honest energy of The Forkers percolates into this new series, even as tempers fray and fear gets the better of them. They trade curses and insults with each other, bantering their way through their 25-day-long journey.
“We spent 25 days together and didn’t kill each other,” says Sid, pointing out that they have very different personalities. “I am a pain in the arse and he is more laid-back,” he says. “I like planning things out, and they didn’t give me enough tools to do so,” adds the self-confessed sybarite who is “decidedly not a tenting guy,” unlike his cousin, Shanky, who has gone riding in this landscape many times before and is more comfortable being exposed to the elements.
On the edge of disaster | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Despite all this, however, the cousins are clear about this: they would do it again in a heartbeat. “Sure, it was seriously brutal, scary, and exhausting, but we loved being on the edge of disaster,” says Sid, admitting that ‘Hoyega Hoyega’ (it will happen)became their rallying cry on and off camera. “It is exciting to be in these parts. They are beautiful,” adds Shanky. And yes, “my camaraderie with my brother helped me get through this journey.”
“We giggled our way through the danger, and we survived,” says Sid, recalling how cold, uncomfortable and nerve-wracking the experience was. “The expectation is these two Humpty Dumpties are going to fall,” he says. “We didn’t.”
I Should Have Stayed Home premiered on 11th September, Monday at 9 pm on Discovery Channel and is available to stream on the Discovery+ platform
COMMents
SHARE