Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Rajesh Bhatia8217;s world revolves around his kirana trade in teeming Gamdevi, world removed from liquor baron Vijay Mallya transcontinental, caviar lifestyle.
But when it comes to cricket, the craze is the same, so is the destination: South Africa. Mallya will get there on the Cricket Express, his plush, personalised Boeing 727. Bhatia will get there too8212;after borrowing some money from friends for his ticket.
8216;8216;My cousin is based in Durban and runs a small restaurant,8217;8217; explains the excited Bhatia. 8216;8216;He has been inviting me since the last years and I thought this was the best time to make the trip with India in hunt for the World Cup.8217;8217;
A few hundreds are already doing that, but there are now thousands more8212;from the who8217;s who to an eclectic mix of traders, shopowners, even lower-run policemen8212;who want to make their presence felt when India meets Kenya under lights at Kingsmead, Durban on March 20.
Mallya8217;s two private jets he also owns a Gulfstream will be on World Cup Semi Final duty, ferrying 22 chosen guests, including former J-K CM Farooq Abdullah, Karnataka Industries minister R V Deshpande, Delhi socialite Nafisa Ali, designer Ritu Beri and Parmeshwar Godrej.
Ask K.A. Makola, Vice Counsul Immigration at the South African Consulate, which is receiving nearly 500 applications for visas every day: that8217;s as much as they would normally get in a month.
8216;8216;We are experiencing a huge influx of applicants,8217;8217; says Makola. 8216;8216;We are trying our best to meet this demand.8217;8217; That means working overtime, even on a holiday like today. And he says it8217;s only going to increase.
8216;8216;On Thursday we had 300 applications from one single group of the total of 700 we received that day.8217;8217; There are individuals, big company-groups and groups booked through agents, for whom this is boom time.
Pyramid and Sachinam Travels, both of whom have sole rights to issue match tickets, have already sent 3,000 fans to South Africa. Total number of Indian fans who8217;ve travelled south west thus far: 8,000.
The deal works out to Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh, including stay. 8216;8216;People are willing to shell out once they are assured of stay and match tickets,8217;8217; says Ronnie Shroff of Sachinam Travels.
Some who8217;ve returned, now want to go back for the semis and hopefully the finals. 8216;8216;I loved watching Sachin Tendulkar in full flow against Pakistan,8217;8217; exults Nadeem Memon, Wankhede8217;s curator and a businessman. 8216;8216;The crazy local Indian fans and their Mexican wave 8230; I also saw film stars Nana Patekar and Sunil Shetty freak out with the crowd. It was worth every paisa and I want to be there on March 20!8217;8217;
For police inspector Iqbal Sheikh the trip turned out to be a double treat. At Supersport Park, Centurion for the Indo-Pak clash, he was invited by the local police to shed light on crowd control. He was taken to the Tourist Operation Centre from where he guided local cops and volunteers. 8216;8216;I told them not to show controversial replays on the mega screen as emotions run high in a match involving the two sub-continent nations.8217;8217; Sheikh has been invited again for the semifinal and final.
