Four of us (me, Ar, Ad, Gunman) started from our humble abode aboard Ad’s swift (my a-star just wouldn’t seat us comfortably) picking up S on the way. We had managed to get our tickets through A’s friend and what an achievement it itself was. As, one ad rightly says ‘the biggest ticket in town’- IPL T20. Chennai Super Kings were entertaining Deccan Chargers at home – MA Chidambaram stadium at Chepauk. We knew parking would be a pain around the stadium so Ar advised that we better leave our wheels at Marina beach and take onto the three-wheeler(auto if you would) from there on. It was a task in itself to find a parking spot on Marina beach on that Sunday evening and after one full length we realized we weren’t the only smart ones. So, we turned back to find 4X2 m (or less) for Ad’s car. Finally, after being good Samaritans - we helped one person with his parking and also got our space in the process.
We took an auto and the driver happily agreed to fit all 5 of us in it on our short ride to the stadium. Surprisingly, the cops at the signal where we waited for a good 6-7 mins didn’t blink an eye at the sight of 5 (mix of healthy and bulky) of us struggling to stay within the frame of the three-wheeler. I thought they would wave us to a side for this transgression but they simply waved us on as the light turned green. Maybe they have bigger things (but like what??) to worry about than stopping an auto for plying at overcapacity.
We were supposed to meet V outside the stadium near the entry gate but that never happened. Had we envisaged the management (or lack of it) we would have not planned it like that. But that was hardly a disappointment (probably cos we weren’t there with our families) compared to the excitement the frenzy outside the stadium brought about. It was crazy…people draped in yellow blowing their lungs into those paper bugles. I was particularly impressed with a group of Deccan Chargers supporters who were face painting for free. Gunman thought of getting his face done (being a proud APite that he is) but our line had started moving and we didn’t wanna get late. Next time Gunman! Me being too critical of the mismanagement of the crowd could because I am a biased Mumbaikar who is fine with the idea of being pushed around on his way to office but not on his way to the cricket match :o). On second thought, local trains do have separate gents and ladies compartments.
My previous IPL outing was at Wankhede (IPL-I) and though the management was too good the crowd was nowhere close to the Chennai crowd. The Tamil masses were charged up to no end…awesome atmosphere. Little did they know that the Chargers will spoil the party. The row ahead of us was full of DC supporters so Gunman had good company, he even borrowed their placard charts for those Kodak moments. V joined us in as we couldn’t find him outside the stadium. I am not going to write about the match as it is not supposed to be a match report- we all know it was a non-contest with CSK unable to chase the total put up by DC. However, an incident on the ground during the DC innings is worth mentioning (actually is the reason for the title :P). There was a stray dog running around on the ground during the play. Initially, the play stopped and there was a less-than-half-hearted attempt to chase him out of the playing area but to no avail. And then, we Indians showcased our adjusting nature by letting the dog stay on the ground for good 12-13 overs of the first innings. Maybe it was a ploy by CSK to have another fielder on the pitch which nobody objected to ;-). The dog was having a gala time- running around the inner circle, occasionally being shoo-shooed by the players… all this while the match was going on. Guess the dog caught the best possible cricketing action- talk about VIP passes. Huh! Someone mentioned jokingly that that was actually a display of high security provided by the police- the dog was a sniffer dog. :-D
Now, I can totally understand if a dog had wanders into any ground, building, and place in India. I mean after all it is India and we have too many of those stray dogs and I truly believe they can actually get in anywhere. But atleast and I mean ATLEAST try to get it out of the pitch (that it had come in) – it’s a $4.13 billion brand after all this IPL. For Mr. Lalit Modi’s sake? The bloody game is being telecast to the whole world and this is what impression we cast on the world. The 1st world countries don’t think highly of us anyway and incidents like these don’t help one bit.
Anyway, I had a great time watching as a neutral and witnessing bantering between the majority home crowd and the dozen or so DC supporters in our stand. At break we went out looking for some thirst quenching liquid and some would-have-been-heavenly snack but only found empty stalls (we were too late), however, we finally spotted a fruit stall and savoured some life-giving fruits.
Getting out of the stadium was much easier, probably because most dejected home fans had left by then. V and Gunman had to bid farewell to the DC cheerleaders who were really awesome. More so because one of the CSK cheerleaders was a guy (that’s not the problem) who was... EXERCISING!!! Even I could put up a better show than him that too without being drunk. Honest.
Ar pointed out yesterday that he read about the (THE) dogs on the ground the other day in an article which said they had grown up in the ground and that they didn’t bite! What a piece of information to mention in an article. Ways to hide our mediocrity anyone???
3 days ago