WWW Plus More

It was wine, wealth, women and much more at the Mahalaxmi race course at the McDowell Indian Derby 2006. The fourth W that could be added is Wisdom that people kept showering on us. Right from Mahalaxmi station, Mukul and me could see enthusiasts who were rushing for the big day. One old man traveling in a cab had Cole in one hand and a set of handwritten papers with seemingly complex calculations in the other. We on the other hand, were equipped with just the last page of the Sunday Times and people around us in the BEST bus were looking at us as if we were big gamblers as we discussed which horse to bet on. Outside the gate, we could see pretty women dressed up like they do for Page 3 parties. Most of these women, who were wearing back-opens, went to the member's enclosure, the ticket for which was Rs 260. That does not mean that there were not any good looking women in the first enclosure, the ticket for which was Rs 25 and which was the obvious choice for us.If you wanted to use the cell phone inside the race course premises, you had to purchase a ticket at Rs 3300! When I asked the guy at the counter the reason for this, "kuch logon ko shauk hota hai"(some people have talking on cell phones as a hobby) was the crap that he gave me. Once inside, people could make out that we were amateurs because of the newspaper cutout that we carried. We hid it inside our pockets, taking it out only when necessary. There were hundreds of counters that accepted bets all around the place. Further investigations revealed that the counters were of two types. The private operators accepted bets from rich people and totalizators who accepted bets from poor mortals like us. Race number 6 was going to be the derby and we reached there about 2-3 races before the derby. All the races were 1800m ones except for the derby that was 2400m race. The noise as the horses neared the winning line was amazing. We had decided to bet only on the derby, but decided to bet on the races before that too after looking at the excitement around. As we stood in the queue, we found this guy with complicated calculations taking about a minute to place the bet. And when he placed the bet it was for Rs 20 :-) We placed our bet on Southern Regent, who had won the derby in 2005. We cheered for Southern Regent as it overtook the other horses to win the race. Imagine our chagrin when we learnt that we had placed the bet on the wrong horse. We sought expert advice before we placed bets on further races. For the derby, I placed my bets on Democratus and some other horse whose name I fail to remember. Mukul placed his bets on 3 horses that included Mystical, the horse tipped to win the race. "It will win", said one of the guys in the totalizator queue seconding Mukul. He said it with such style that Mukul probably could not resist betting on the horse. As we stood in the stands in anticipation, a veteran with an experience of 26 years advised us to get rid of this betting habit. He said that he knew a few millionaires turned beggars cases and advised us to come only for fun. He explained us the concept of pacemaker, something that I cannot understand till date. The derby started. There was silence all over till the horses reached the last 600m. People kept cheering for the horses they had bet on. Mystical lost. Most people lost too. I lost. Mukul lost. Velvet rope surprised everyone. The veteran who was advising us to stay away from betting, patted on my back and said, " Agli race main ghoda number 2 pe lagana"(bet on horse number 2 in the next race). The guy in the yellow T shirt sipping beer seemed sad. He was about to cry. I am sure he must have bet his fortune on the race. People who had lost threw their tickets away and there were people who were picking these tickets to see if they were lucky. We on the other hand were focusing our binoculars on the member's enclosure. "I was asked which horse will win the derby. And true to my prediction, the best horse has won", said Vijay Mallya on the speaker. What wisdom Mr Mallya. I am impressed. We bet on the next race too. I lost again, but Mukul won. He had placed a place bet on his horse which guaranteed him money if his horse came in the top 3. The race course was empty by then. No one seemed interested in the races after the derby. We decided to leave too. Now, I am eagerly waiting for the next derby.