CHENNAI OPENed!!

I awoke with a start. The time was 9.30am, New Year’s Day. Thinking I was late, I got up and got ready in a hurry. And took my bike. Damn! Had to fill fuel also. But somehow I managed to be there at 10.05 and saw the queue in the road. Wish I were there early! Only when I went close did I observe what all the people in the queue were watching in despair. ‘All tickets sold out’ was the notice put up. Shit!! That’s it then should head home! I had no other plans that day. A perfect anticlimax to all my New Year hopes. Suddenly someone started protesting and the others joined. The organizers had a tough time controlling the crowds, who were swearing (for a change in English) at everyone. “How can you not have daily tickets? How can you sell all the tickets to this crucial day when the top three seeds each had their singles match? How is that the seats in the stadium remain empty even when the tickets are sold? You are cheating us. You bastards! You have given all the tickets to those assholes who are selling them in black! Call Vijay Amritraj now or else we wont allow the day’s play, we wont let the players in, is this is the way you portray Chennai to the outside world? You people suck!!…………” This is a mild recollection of the lines sprayed out at the authorities. I was standing there watching all this in the hot sun and was quite hungry by then. People were shouting at full volume, tried breaking into the stadium, the press was called and clearly it was total chaos out there. A report on this was published in 'The Hindu' newspaper but there was no mention about the protests that went on. Check it out -> report.

The city of Chennai. The city in which I was born, brought up and the place where I have spent most of my teenage visiting places with friends. I like the city very much for I have no choice, I haven’t lived in any other city (Trichy not considered!) and for a frog, the well is the universe! During these holidays, I noticed a few things about the city. Being a frequent user of the roads, I found the roads being dug up, traffic diverted at important junctions like Kathipara, Ashok Pillar, Nungambakkam etc and it rained heavily in between to add to the misery of the road users. It was irritating to think of going to some place because of all this and I preferred to stay at home mostly. Add to this the changing face of the city, known to be conservative, becoming ‘modern’. New Year bashes weren’t quite our culture. Improper organization, violation of rules and inadequate safety measures saw the collapse of the dance stage into the pool at Savera Hotel. Having been to the same place a week ago for the SS Music’s VJ hunt program, I shiver at the thought of it. And that the son of one of my dad’s colleague, Anand was seriously injured in that incident and is fighting for his life is quite tragic. See this-> report. Is this necessary? Is the city becoming a victim to the western culture? Flyovers are necessary yes, but why should the Government construct so many simultaneously? Why isn’t it taking care to have proper detours for these roads? Why are so many hotels allowed to have New Year bashes without any kind of approval for safety? (One ticket to that party cost Rs.3500 apparently!) These are only two issues I put forth in this post. But there are many such issues that are not addressed. Chennai, the city is clearly not going in the right direction.

And about the tickets to the Chennai Open, the media covered it up otherwise it would have been a big shame to the city. For tickets in black were sold by the ball boys of the tournament themselves! Having an international level tournament isn’t enough, maintaining the standards through out is all the more important. And to end the story, the organizers were able to get some tickets from the sponsors (that’s what they said) and did sell the tickets to us. I was able to watch the matches after all. But not before all the protests, two hours in the hot sun, and some dirty language.

Having said all this still by far this is the safest metro in India. No terrorist activity, no molestation of women and no unruly riots. I love Chennai but I fear it might not stay that way for long!!!

Note: Anand succumbed to his injuries on 7th Jan 2008. May he rest in peace.