Have
you heard of Metal-halide ? There is clear madness and no method – not the
Organisers but the fans !. On Sunday 25th
Mar 2012, the counter-sales drew large crowds.
People stood in long queues to get their tickets on the first day itself. The
denominations of the tickets ranged from Rs.700 to Rs. 7000. Is it :-
amalgamation of cricket, entertainment,
money spinning or a popular time-pass for the rich in the City ? The IPL 5 Extravaganza is all set to begin in
a few days from now. Starting April 4th, 2012, there would be 72
matches till May 20th; then 4 more matches to culminate the Finals
of this version on 27th May 2012.
The much touted game loving knowledgeable Cricket fans (!!) of
Chennai are taken for another round ! -
a treat of entertainment lies waiting for the ardent fans !! Bollywood diva Kareena Kapoor is all set to
enthrall audiences at the opening night of Dlf Ipl 2012 in Chennai on April
3. There would more including,Amitabh Bachchan, Prabhudeva,
Priyanka Chopra, Salman Khan, Colonial Cousins and Katy Perry. Yes, an
American Singer, songwriter and actress - Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson
better known by her stage name Katy Perry is to perform for the IPL – to
promote and attract fans for the game -
all set to rock at Chennai - YMCA College of Physical Education – the Board is
really innovating and struggling hard to
find ways to promote and popularize and patronize cricket !!!
It
is no pleasure but plain pain to be
inside the stadium – hot days, made hotter by the lights – no facilities, one
has to pass through make shift barricades and rude volunteers, no decent rest
rooms, water starved toilets – nothing is allowed inside including water
bottles – one needs to buy everything at exorbitant prices and when you return
back, you will find more madness – everywhere – inside the stadium, finding
your way out, reaching the road and finding means of transportation. Inside the
stadiums loudspeakers would blare songs of all languages and there would be
cacophony. This is the position and those who come to watch spending hefty
amount on tickets are indeed treated shabbily ; Team India has done rather
poorly in the recent tours of England, Australia as also in the Asia Cup at
Bangladesh – all these would combine to keep maddening crowds away from the
stadium and this IPL 5 could be trimmed to be an ordinary affair – so one
thought…..
the ticket sale at Chepauk : Photo courtesy www.firstpost.com
Amidst the melee, thousands of seats in the reconstructed galleries
of M.A. Chidambaram Stadium are likely to remain vacant this IPL season. Over 7,000 tickets for seats in the
modernised galleries will be sold only after the Chennai Corporation revokes
the lock-and-seal notice issued for the new structures last year. Does it smack of arrogance that they can get
away with anything or really poor planning ? – there lies galleries built
without building approvals from the
civic body or planning permission from the Chennai Metropolitan Development
Authority (CMDA). The Corporation has banned
usage and remember the Champions League was played to partly empty galleries
and though months have passed by, things reportedly have not changed. It is reported that the ban could be revoked
only if Multi-Storey Building (MSB) panel of the CMDA gives clearance.
MA
Chidambaram stadium is no longer the mad concrete house – the new look stadia
has reinforced concrete stands accommodating additional spectators with extra
hospitality boxes. Horizontal gaps between the lower terrace and the upper
stands have been provided to allow a sea
breeze into the stadium from the east to facilitate swing of the ball. It has more of wire ropes and nothing of the
broad round pillars that looked majestic but would distract or hide a portion
from the spectator earlier.
Tamil
Nadu is reeling under severe power shortage and there are many drastic measures
taken by the State Govt including many hours of power cut in day time; power
holidays; reduced supply of power to industries and the whole State is feeling
the shortage this summer. There are
going to be so many day night matches which are going to affect the citizens in
multiple ways
-
hundred
thousands of crazy chennaites would sit for long hours in front of the TV sets
with airconditioners on and power consumption would jump manifold.
-
The
stadium draws electricity from TNEB and tons of precious electricity would be
wasted by the flood lights and other extravagant lighting and other fixtures
-
There
would be chaos in traffic – already major parts of the artillery Anna Salai
(Mount Road) have been made ‘one way’ – now hours prior to the match and hours
after, buses would not allowed to ply through Bells Road causing inconvenience
to all commuters.
-
The
diesel generators kept outside would run to their fullest capacity wasting
litres of diesel and causing noise pollution
I
am an ardent fan, a big lover for the game – still would it not be better to
have only day games, at least in Chennai or shift all CSK games to somewhere
else providing respite to the power parched citizens of Tamil Nadu.
Metal Halide is the most
common type of floodlight - which emits a bright white light; high pressure Sodium floodlights would emit a
soft orange light, similar to that of street lights. Metal-halide lamps, a member of the
high-intensity discharge (HID) family of lamps, produce high light output for
their size, making them a compact, powerful, and efficient light source.
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar.
28th March
2012.