Annoying jabs at random people, pathetic attempts at humour ; yup, we’re back after a heck of a long time. It’s just that we could’nt resist it with the country falling under the spell of the whole Formula 1 craze.
Attendance at the Grand Prix was much greater than expected. Most probably ‘cos it was an excuse to not go to a theatre and watch RA-One. But with all the publicity that was out for that cinematic sack of donkey-crap, the chequered flag probably had black and white on one side and that now-dreaded picture of Shahrukh Khan Chamak-Chaloing away to glory on the other.
Everyone’s favourite man, Sebastian Vettel ran off with the trophy once again and it was kind of amusing watching 81-year old Micheal Schumacher getting out of his wheelchair, waving goodbye to his great grandkids,coming over to India and battling it out with Narain Karthikeyan (Indian, proud of him) for 19th place. Guess some people just do not know to get out when the going’s good.
Attendance at the Grand Prix was much greater than expected. Most probably ‘cos it was an excuse to not go to a theatre and watch RA-One. But with all the publicity that was out for that cinematic sack of donkey-crap, the chequered flag probably had black and white on one side and that now-dreaded picture of Shahrukh Khan Chamak-Chaloing away to glory on the other.
Ever heard of the man who let his personal airline go into debt so that he could enter a car-race? That, ladies and gentlemen, is Vijay Mallya, owner of Force India racing. Never heard of Force India? Figures. They were overtaken in lap 3 by Rajnikanth on a tri-cycle.
The funniest part of all this were the usual sponsors queueing up to add their name to the latest sporting bonanza. The staid Indian Grand Prix soon became Bharti Airtel Formula 1. Imagine if India entered the global sporting market. You’d probably see the Dabur Chyawanprash English Premier League where all spectators get a tube of Odomos and a free Aircel simcard on entering the stadium.
The greatest part of this with respect to India is ofcourse, that it was the first grand prix to be held here! Yes, the Buddh Circuit up in Greater Noida was the venue for all the thrilling action. Being India there were ofcourse dogs running across the track, autorickshaws overtaking Jenson Button at 315km/hr, Baba Ramdev hunger-striking ‘cos of all the noise. We even saw Schumacher pass Rs.200 and a sly smile to the race officials. Somethings never change.
But all-in-all the comments of the race officials about the race in general were highly encouraging. The main drawback according to them was the traffic blocks around the circuit which prevented the racers and audience from reaching the venue in the first place. Seems Lewis Hamilton had to change two buses, an auto and finally run 16 kilometres to reach the venue. Typical.
One of the memorable moments of the race was of course maestro Sachin Tendulkar waving the flag at the end.
Sports in India? Yup funny story.
