The joy of a free cricket pass

"You must've seen what just happened. Everyone wants free passes. Keeping everyone happy is one of the most toughest occupational hazards of being a cricket administrator," Niranjan Shah, secretary of Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA), says, laughing over the misery of what happened a few minutes before the conversation with him.

A couple of people from Rajkumar College, Rajkot's most prominent educational institute, had come to the SCA office requesting for free passes for their staff members. On hearing their request, Shah asked one of the officials to look after the issue. Here is an excerpt from the conversation.

Official (O): Why do you need free passes? Rajkumar College has enough funds to pay for the tickets of their staff members. And why do you need passes for the staff, why not the students in the cricket team?

Staff Member (S): Sir, the students are having their vacations. Staff is still working.

O: Staff is staying back only because the lodging and boarding is free for you.

S: Not anymore, sir

O: It is subsidised.

S: Yes.

O: What has your college done to improve the cricketing set-up in with those funds?

*Silence*

o: Let's see what we can do.

With Indian Premier League (IPL) coming to the city following Intex Technologies' successful bid in acquiring the Rajkot franchise (now named Gujarat Lions), the small town is in a festive mood to celebrate cricket. The first and the only IPL match played so far at the venue this year witnessed a full-house. Given the mood, it wouldn't be surprising to see the remaining four matches to be played in front of a jam-packed crowd. In fact, even 20 km away from the stadium, random men approach you, wanting to sell tickets in black.

Not surprisingly, the quest for free passes was an expected sight. There seems to be an unexplainable joy in getting free match tickets. Irrespective of which part of the country you come from, if you are related to the game in anyway, you would've had advances for arranging passes to a match. And, weirdly, it isn't just cricket fans who approach you.

Every time there is a talk about 'arranging passes,' I'm reminded of a frustrated monologue by a fellow scribe from a leading national daily: "The managing director of my company expects me to arrange passes for his family every time there is a match in Mumbai. He earns nearly a crore annually and drives a car worth Rs 80 lakh. Why can't he pay Rs 3,000 for a match ticket. Why does he want it for free?"

Sadly though, in this pursuit of free passes, the influential and those with contacts have their way, while fans queing up in long lines and willing to shell out their hard-earned money are left devoid of an opportunity of watching the match.