CHENNAI: Early on Friday morning, K Ramanan from Alwarpet sat on a pavement on Victoria Hostel Road, triumphantly waving a fistful of tickets. “I gave up any hope of watching the semi-finals and finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the stadium even though it is happening here, but it looks like I was wrong,” he says.A bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday granted an interim injunction for a week, permitting the use of three new stands in the MA Chidambaram Stadium. These stands, with a seating capacity of over 13,000, were lying unused since August last year as the Chennai Corporation had sealed them citing violation of building norms.The court order raised the hopes of several thousand cricket fans who had resigned themselves to watching the matches on the television. Many of them started their Friday early by queuing up for tickets at the stadium as early as 5 am, even though ticket sales started only at 9 am. P Sharadh, a college student living in Velachery, was one of them. Eating idli and vadai at a pushcart vendor’s breakfast stall, he said, “I borrowed my dad’s bike and left home at 4 am. After standing in line at booth seven for little more than four hours, I finally got 10 tickets for today’s match for my family and friends.”Those who are not morning people found different ways of procuring the tickets. Dressed in a lungi and crumpled shirt, Baburam from Chintadripet stood disinterestedly in the line. Speaking with City Express, he said, “I do not have the time to sit and watch cricket. My employer and his family are crazy about the game, and asked me to stand in line to buy them tickets for both games. I’ll get a bonus for doing this.”Apart from these, office goers were standing in line dressed in work formals, carrying laptop bags, having taken permission from work to buy the tickets themselves. Other fans came wearing their Chennai Super Kings T-shirts, declaring where their loyalties lie.Knowing that the demand for tickets will be high for Friday’s semifinal featuring the home team CSK and the Delhi Daredevils, several enterprising youth were buying a few extra tickets. Dharan*, who works at a mill, said, “I had a few thousand rupees saved up. There will definitely be people who want tickets for tonight’s match, so I am going to buy five tickets in the `500 gallery and I hope to double what I invested.”He added that there are others who do the same, but they are not interested in purchasing the tickets for the finals. “We love our team and we hope they make it through to the finals. But from a business point of view, this is better. However, if they are playing in the finals, the tickets may even go for triple the face value,” mused Dharan, as he contemplated aloud whether he should re-think his plan.In spite of the queue stretching the length of Victoria Hostel Road all the way to where it meets Wallajah Road, police and organisers helped maintain discipline. One of the police officers at the scene said, “The crowd is intent on buying the tickets. They have cooperated with us since morning, and there have been no problems.” Cars and bikes were parked along the stretch, extending into the Chepauk MRTS station parking lot.Cameras from the media and the organisers covered the crowd and the patient fans waved and cheered for their team, in the hope that it would spur the defending champions on to the final.(* Names changed on request)
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