Sunday, December 21, 2003

At the races
Thanks to passes my uncle got from a business contact, I was at Irungattukottai today to watch the National Racing Championships. I am not much of a racing fan, and don�t know much either. I�ve never been to a race in my life, so �understeering�, �cornering�, �Formula XYZ� etc. are totally unfamiliar territory. Nevertheless, the races, and the people were interesting to watch. This part of the world doesn�t get cooler than this any other time of the year, yet the complimentary cold beer was welcoming. I tried my best to stay in the shade, but I was dragged along to the pit lane as my uncle had to meet some people.
I got a close look at the track, which looked only slightly better than the highway next to it. I got a chance to see first-hand what I had otherwise only seen on TV, or heard some friends conversing about. I was a lucky kid! (Though mostly undeserving). I also got a chance to see Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandok, who wisely stayed away from much of the high-speed action on this tarmac. Also seen, were a couple of firang chicks who had been flown in from god-knows-where just so that they could hold the lap board at each passing car, wave the flag (might as well have dropped a drag-race type hankie), and generally spend the rest of the time giggling at rich old men and taking an occasional break inside an air conditioned trailer: they already seemed pretty prepared for the heat, going by the amount of clothing they were wearing.
Despite all the local support for the lads from Chennai and Coimbatore, the most exciting racer was Ms Kieho Ihara from Japan. Did you see that chick race machaan? She beat the shit out of the guys! was a spontaneous reaction from another racer who was thankful that he was not part of the group of losing Formula LGB veterans. I did enjoy a day at the races; watching with interest what I would otherwise dismiss as gaudily stickered and noisy, souped-up Marutis. Today also happened to be a day when, strangely I met half a dozen people whom I hadn�t seen in three or four years. Not bad for a day which only ended with two Disprins.

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