Chennaiites hop on flights to Mumbai

CHENNAI: Fourteen-year-old Nikhil Tolasariya couldn't wait for school to finish on Friday. For, he is all set to watch the World Cup final live.
At 6.45pm on Friday he boarded a flight to Mumbai to watch India and Sri Lanka battle it out. The class XI student from Chinmaya Vidyalaya had booked his Rs 26,000 ticket a month ago and has been keeping his fingers crossed ever since hoping India would make it to the finals."I put my faith in God," says Nikhil, "I never expected India to be in the finals. But this is just my luck that not only do I get to go, but I also see India play." Nikhil says he will be meeting his cousin, who has taken the Friday flight from Hyderabad, in Mumbai for the match.
Like Nikhil, there are a whole bunch of excited Chennaiites who boarded flights to Mumbai to catch the finals live. Civil engineer Diliban G, who watched the Mohali, Ahmedabad, and Chennai matches live, says he just cannot wait to watch the finals. "I'm a complete cricket fan," says Diliban, who got his friends in Mumbai to pick up a ticket for him well in advance. "I find there is a huge difference between watching matches in Mumbai and Chennai. In places like Ahmedabad and Mumbai, the crowd goes crazy during a match and that makes it more exciting and wonderful. The crowds in Chennai tend to be more restrained. So I'm really waiting for this one," says Diliban, who catches India playing whenever and wherever he can, even if it is London or Melbourne.
Over the last couple of days, Chennaiite Navin Mukhi has been so excited about the finals that his profile picture on a social networking site was that of the ticket. He got to Mumbai a couple of days before the match, all set to take in the atmosphere. But like in cricket, when sometimes it all comes down to the last ball, Navin won't know until late Saturday morning, about whether he will get to the stadium or not. "My wife and child are returning to Chennai on the same day so there is a slight glitch and I might have to return before the match," says a disheartened Navin.