The Eleven Year Old Fan
Unbelievable as it may sound, yesterday Siva and I felt the urge to move out of the hotel for a couple of hours. It’s been a long time since we had paid for what we ate or drank and so just for the heck of it, we went to Brigade Road to have some beer in a pub.
Once done with the customary toast to RCB, Siva opened his laptop to upload the video he had prepared. A waiter positioned himself behind Siva to have a look at it. We both were wearing the team T-shirts at the time. He learnt from us, our role in RCB.
It was my turn to ask questions after that. We learnt that his name is Nagraj and that he is from Mangalore. He spoke Hindi fluently.
“Sir, how much is the ticket for our team’s match?” Nagraj finally gathered the courage to ask the question.
“Must be around 200”, I said.
“Sir, nothing in 100?” he enquired.
I nodded in negative without meeting his eyes.
“My son has been insisting on seeing the match Sir”
‘How old is he?”
‘Eleven, sir. His name is Karthik.”
I had seen my first live match when I was thirteen. I still remember every hour of it. It was the Hero Cup 1993 match between India and Zimbabwe which ended in a Tie. The match was during the same Diwali season and I had purchased a T-shirt with caricatures of Indian Players on it as my Diwali dress.
“The ticket for other team’s matches is cheaper” I suggested to Nagraj.
“Sir, what’s the point in watching a match in which our team is not playing”
I didn’t have an answer to that.
“Would you get a leave for the match?”
“Sir, I would take an off for my son. But I cannot spend more than 200 on the tickets”.
Siva and I tipped him well before leaving the pub. Let’s hope that tonight RCB provides entertainment enough for Karthik to keep jumping with joy, even if he is not able to join the team at the stadium.
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Thanks Dude :).
@Ramesh,
We did tip him handsomely. But you never know whether he would buy the tickets with the money or now :).
But to be honest tonight's gallery tickets ARE in fact a 100 bucks (and a couple of other stands)!! I'm sure he'd have been there if he had known!