Let the games begin!!

Last year after Sachin’s 200 vs South Africa, I was convinced that the 2011 was going to be India’s year as Sachin HAS to be a part of a world cup winning squad. I think he has been saving himself in ODIs with the sole aim of being a part of a world cup winning squad which has been one of the motivators that has kept him going in the last few years. It strikes me as surprising that he played just 2 ODIs last year and I think I will stand by what I wrote last year, that if India wins the World Cup then Sachin will announce his retirement from ODI cricket.

Since then, an additional factor that will make this an interesting world cup to follow from a personal point of view would be to see Sachin score his 100th international hundred. I was lucky enough to witness his 50th test hundred in Centurion and to witness the 100th international hundred would be another pilgrimage ticked off in support of the only god I have believed in.

Since making this plan in March last year, I bought tickets on 1st June 2010 ,the day the tickets went on sale at kyazoonga.com, for all of India’s matches (except for the game vs Ireland in Bengaluru on 6th March) till the quarter final. So starting from tomorrow, I will be travelling to one of the venues every weekend (except the weekend of the 6th) to watch India keep its date with destiny on 2nd April 2010. I travel to Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla stadium to watch the opening game of the 2011 world cup tomorrow.

The organizers were kind enough to help me organize this itinerary by scheduling all of India’s matches over the weekend so that taking time off from work is not a variable to worry about for the group matches. The only India game on a weekday is vs Netherlands, which in the worst case scenario would mean missing one inning of the match if I cant take the day off. However, this is where the kindness of the organizers stopped for me. I have visited various other sporting events such as the 2007 T20 World Cup, 2006 and 2010 football world cups, the Euro 2008, US Open etc but I am yet to come across a more mismanaged tournament from a spectator point of view.

Which other ‘global’ tournament would have:

1. Tickets for the semi final and the final not go on sale by the start of the tournament. Yes the tickets for the semi final and final are yet to go on sale and the organizers have not seen it fit to inform the public on when they intend to. From what I read in the newspapers just 4000 tickets for the world cup final would come on sale, but there doesn’t seem to be any transparency on when and how would the sale take place.

2. Matches rescheduled a month before they take place. I (and 10 other friends) had bought tickets for the India vs England game at the Eden Gardens and made our travel and stay arrangements only for the game to be shifted a month before the start of the world cup. The organizaers have been kind enough to let me exchange my tickets for the game in Bangalore but with just a week to go I have no information regarding the stand I would be seated in. I would also need to get in a collection queue on the day of the game to get my ticket as there isn’t enough time for the tickets to be couriered. Given the number of people who would have had their tickets transferred in this manner I predict major chaos on the day of the day.

3. De-centralization of printing of tickets. Each venue/state association is printing its own tickets and sending them to Kyazoonga, the ticketing partner, as per their own timelines. With the world cup starting tomorrow, Kyazoonga is yet to receive tickets from Mohali, Chennai, Nagpur, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Ahmedabad etc. Due to this for people who booked tickets for matches at multiple venues on Kyazoonga the tickets can only be dispatched once all of them become available. I had to personally go to the Kyazoonga office near Defence Colony to collect my India vs Bangladesh match tickets. The rest of my tickets will only be couriered to me once all state associations can get their acts together and print tickets for all the matches taking place at their venue. While this is still not a game changer for me, I shudder to think of the pain that overseas visitors, some of whom would probably have left for India, would be going through to track their consignments as Kyazoonga’s customer care is permanently on hold given the high number of queries they are getting. Already there are reports coming from Dhaka and Bangalore about the high number of tickets available for sale in the black market, I am sure a significant chunk of that is ending up in the pockets of those running these associations.

4. Absolutely no on-ground activation to build excitement among the general public. There are no banners, hoardings welcoming teams anywhere in Delhi (South Africa and West Indies are probably based in Delhi right now), all I see are some ESPN Star Sports world cup hoardings outside their office HQ in Gurgaon and Stumpy (the mascot) countdown watches at some malls. While the world cup is all over the media, it could for all practical purposes be taking place anywhere else in the world rather than the cities we live in. I recently travelled from Delhi to Ahmedabad, both host cities, and was surprised at the lack of any world cup posters welcoming the 15000 odd travelling coming over to India for the Cup or merchandise in airport shops.

I can’t think of a more backward looking organization than the BCCI to be at the forefront of internationally administering a sport on the basis of their financial muscle. However, in spite of all these challenges we, the people, would continue to throng the stadiums to be pushed around (if you are luck, lathi charged if you are not) by the police at all venues and spend the entire day packed in like sardines in stadiums having dirty bathrooms, unhygienic food and water. It is this irrational support that makes the India fan the creature he is who then vents out all his frustration by burning down the stadiums when India lose a la Kolkata 1996.

The lucky Indian flag I bought in South Africa before the India vs England (Yuvi 6 sixes!!) game in Durban, that was my constant companion as I watched India take out South Africa, Australia and Pakistan to win the T20 World Cup, has been packed along with my lucky Indian jersey (the old light blue one) as I travel to Dhaka tomorrow. I don’t know if we will end up yet again (1987, 1996) as the (semi-finalist) bridesmaid at a home world cup or if we will go one better than 2003, but I do know that it will be a roller coaster 6 weeks that I plan to make the most of.

PS: Just saw this article on rediff about the absence of the buzz i spoke about in Delhi, Mumbai

New Year Resolutions, South America and the World Cup

Three seemingly unrelated topics that come together to form my first post this year. Having initiated this blog with much enthusiasm during the last South America trip, i had hoped to share our experiences to help others plan their trips to a region where information on the internet or in guide books is rather sketchy and more often than not outdated for travellers. Unfortunately i realised in the middle of the trip that blogging during the holiday typically means choosing between blogging and sleep. While blogging won over sleep initially, over the longer period of the holiday it was a no contest.

Given that learning, this time as part of my new year resolutions i plan to blog about the trip to South America along with my experience of attending the cricket world cup watching India in different venues across the country this year. Hopefully this is not a resolution that will fizzle out like new year resolutions typically do.

Coming back to South America, i fell in love with the continent during the previous 3 week trip that included Santiago, Atacama Desert, Bolivia, Lake Titicaca & of course Machu Picchu. While talking to other travellers I realised that Easter Island & Patagonia were 2 destinations that I HAD TO visit in Chile again, and i wasnt disappointed. Some of the amazing experiences of the trip were:

1) Watching Sachin score his 50th Test ton (yes that happened in South Africa and had nothing to do with South America but you will get the connection by the end of the post)

2) Getting to hold a crocodile in Sun City (South Africa again!!) that according to its handler was old enough to bite our hands off

3) Escadaria de Selaron (Selaron's stairs) in Rio de Janeiro, a continuously updated work of art that contains tiles from over 180 countries
4) Christ the reddemer statue and view of Rio from Sugarloaf mountain

5) Everything about the 23 km hike over 3 days in Torres de Paine National Park

6) The sound of ice cracking at Perito Moreno glacier in Argentinian patagonia, one of only 3 advacing glaciers in the world.

7) Photographing the Easter Island Moai's at sunrise & sunset

8) Watching 80 year olds Tango gracefully at a Tango bar in Buenos Aires
9) The sight of the "Devil's throat" at Iguazu Falls

While the quintessential South America travel experience should include as much of bus travel, given the shortish time we flew across the continent(as per the map on the left). One of the major road blocks for visiting South America is the high cost of flights to South America (cheapest prices i could find were Rs 85k on Emirates) and the decision to take local flights in South America added significantly to our costs. Unfortunately the level of competition among airlines in South America is rather low and given the absence of viable low cost carriers on most routes, flying internally within South America is quite an expense.

The trick to bring down those costs substantially is to use your Jet Privilege miles and fly via South Africa to either Sao Paolo or Buenos Aires. Here is how this routing helps you kill 2 birds with a single stone known as South African airways:

1) Use Jet Privilege miles to book a return award ticket on partner airlines South African airways from Johannesburg to Sao Paolo or Buenos Aires. This will cost you 24500 miles per person and Rs 1800 as tax. You can even do an open jaw ticket and fly into Sao Paolo and depart via Buenos Aires or vice a versa. Yes thats right, you can use 15% more miles than those required to redeem a Delhi-Mumbai return award (21000 miles) to book a return 10 hour flight from Joburg. So if you have 24500 miles in your Jetprivilege account you can bring down the cost of flying to South America from Rs 85000 to approx Rs 35-40k (return ticket from Del/Mumbai to Joburg plus the tax amount for the award flight). Thats a straight saving of approx Rs 50k per person.

2) Flying into South America on South African Airways make you eligible for the Lan South America Pass which enables you to purchase tickets on Lan for a fixed sector price which varies by route but is still 20%-50% cheaper than normal market prices for most routes. Just as an example the Lan Pass would enable you to buy a Santiago-Easter Island return fare for approx USD 600 for a market price ranging between USD 900 - USD 1500. Similar savings on other routes mean that flying within South America is not as prohibitive.

Given the savings, visiting South Africa for Sachin's 50th century was just the icing on the cake!!! :)

More South America travel tips to follow in subsequent posts!!

Frustrating travel but time to make new plans

Am writing this stuck at the Dubai airport, on my way back home for 36 hours before flying back to Johannesburg. I should have right now been on the flight to Delhi but was denied boarding (twice that this has happened to me so far in a life spanning at least 200 flights, and both times on Emirates in the last 2 months) since the gates had been closed. The same gates outside which i was sitting talking on the phone while there were people still boarding but apparently with 15 min to go for departure Emirates closes its system and off loads all those who havent boarded. There were no announcements made for the final call, while i was sitting exactly 10m away from the gate. But oh well, the extra 5 hours that i have before my next flight have finally given me some time to update this blog.

While visiting Germany in 2006 for the football world cup or Austria-Switzerland in 2008 for Euro 2008 i have looked with envy at the fans who take a month or more off work, travelling across the width of the host countries to support their team. As a neutral while i have been excited by the overall experience, i think the rush that you get, which is something i experienced while following India in SA for the T20 World Cup, while following the team that you support through the ups and downs of a tournament is something unique.

For the Cricket World Cup to be held in Feb-Apr 2011, i hope to follow India across the host countries (India, Bangladesh & SL) for all its matches. I think 2011 will be India's year as SRT HAS to be part of a World Cup winning squad and i expect something special from him during the tournament. I want to be able to say "I was there" whenever that special event happens. As i read on some blog when SRT scored his 200* vs SA, "2nd April (the date of the final in Mumbai) is SRT's date with destiny and he intends to keep it". I also expect SRT to retire from ODI cricket after the World Cup so i want to say goodbye for the 20+ years of wonderful memories and hopefully it will be a fairytale ending on the 2nd of April that i will be a part of.

Most people might read this and ask how would i be able to take 6 weeks off work, but after going through the schedule i think only 2 weeks of time away from work is all that is required. This is possible because India is playing all of its group matches over the weekend except for one which is in Delhi vs Holland (i think) on a Wednesday. Only from the QF onwards, the itinerary becomes variable depending upon India's position in the group and would require time off to keep the travel arrangements flexible and to enjoy the experience of traveling across India doing some sightseeing in parts of the country that i have not been to.

I plan to write about my overall experience of planning the trip, getting hold of match tickets, accommodation, travelling etc while minimizing the cost of travel and maximizing the opportunity to see parts of India that i havent yet seen. I also plan to use twitter to share my match and travel experiences and would love to get in touch with people who are planning to follow India for the entire or part of the tournament.

However as compared to other International tournaments, while the schedule has now been out for more than 3 months, there is still no information available on when tickets go on sales. For a tournament of this magnitude this is surprising as for most other big international tournaments the key milestones such as various phases of ticketing are known well in advance. The updates on this blog are going to be periodic depending upon the information flow of key dates for the tournament till about 3 months before the tournament when i expect the updates to be more regular as i finalize my travel plans. During the tournament a combination of blog and twitter should keep me online for most parts of the day.

I think the overall journey is going to be a phenomenal experience hopefully culminating in a once in a lifetime "I was there" experience that i hope to share with everyone.

Signing off for the time being, till the next update!