Very Important Passes!

The Delhi High Court has just passed a ruling that says only 10,000 free passes can be issued for World Cup matches in town. Only 10,000 out of the 41,000 seats at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium. That barely begins to cover all the VIPs!

Oh no! Can you believe this cruel verdict? The Delhi High Court has just passed a ruling that says only 10,000 free passes can be issued for World Cup matches in town. Only 10,000 out of the 41,000 seats at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium. That barely begins to cover all the VIPs!

HT Image

What will happen to all their neighbours, allies, neighbours’ friends and fifth cousins? How could the High Court be so cruel to freemongering Delhiites? I don’t know how, but I’d say the number should have been a fraction of what it is.
In October 2008, I wrote about how the youngsters of Delhi only wanted freebies and were wary of shelling out even a couple of hundred bucks for a rock concert. That era, thankfully, has come to pass. The Prodigy concert earlier this year was sold out, as was the equally-priced, but sadly ill-fated Bryan Adams concert.

But there doesn’t seem to be any hope that the very important people — who usually have enough cash to buy the whole joint, but still want their entry to be free — can be converted. In fact, the epidemic is only spreading. The mayor of Mumbai reportedly said there should be free passes for corporates, chairmen of certain committees, some senior officials and a few mediapersons — and that too for the finals at Wankhede stadium! Then there’s Bangalore, where a lathi charge broke out between fans and cops on Thursday over a ticketing mess outside Chinnaswamy stadium.