So the Khojguru team finally managed to get hold of some passes for the IPL match between Punjab Kings Xl and Delhi Dare Devils at Firoz Shah Kotla Ground on 17th May 2008.
We anticipated that there will be a lot of bheed so we started early with an idea to reach the ground by 1800 hrs. for a match that would start at 2000 hrs. We took the ring road from Punjabi Bagh went till Moolchand flyover and then took a left towards Pragati Maidan. From the end of Pragati Maidan we took a right towards Firoz Shah Kotla ground.
We were excited to see the stadium towards our right and just wanted to get inside asap. Suddenly it struck us that we had to park our car also. Hence, we had to find a parking. Unfortunately, there were no direction to any parking anywhere. First we tried to park in anywhere on the Ansari Road, but could not find a decent place and the idea didn’t look very safe. So, we went on Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg to a parking space in front of GB Pant Hospital. It’s a hug multi level parking (I never knew that such a parking existed in Delhi). The place was huge and not light properly. Gave a spooky feeling of a typical Hollywood horror movie. We managed to find a place to park the car and then with even more difficulty managed to find our way out 
.
We walked towards the stadium. Once we reached the stadium, we knew we had to do some smart buying and selling as we wanted to be together but had 2 tickets for the east stand and 2 for the west stand. So, we started talking to people. As we talked to more an more people we were surprised to know that everyone wanted to take the west end tickets but no one was very keen on taking the east end tickets. Then, we realized that the west end was right behind the player’s pit and dressing rooms. It also was an end that was right opposite to the Big Screen and the Manual Score Board. Now, we knew which end we wanted to be on.
So, we immediately got hold of a Sikh father and son, sold the east end tickets at 50% discount and bought west end tickets for 500 rupees each. Yuipee, it was time to get in and enjoy. We started to move from one security point to another. Suddenly, we noticed some official merchandise being sold at the stadium. There were Delhi Dare devils t-shirts official (for 1299/-), without Hero Honda logo (999/-) and many other t-shirts. We all were sooo happy as we managed to get hold of the t-shirts. We had been trying to get one for over a month but all the adidas stores (we had checked the pitampura, rajouri and gurgaon ambiance mall) said that it was out of stock. We bought 2 t-shirts. These t-shirts are made of the climcool fabric (it is really good).
Finally, we went inside to see the food and drinks stalls. We all were very thirsty and somewhat hungry too. We bought Pepsi (20/- each) and a paneer sandwitch (40/-) and a puff (20/-). There was chana for 10/-, bhel puri for 40/-, chole chawal for 40/-, chole kulche for 40/- and many more things. Let me tell you that water bottles are not allowed inside the stadium and the bottled water sold inside is also given to you in glasses (5/- per glass). People are free to move to buy things to eat and drink and then there will be occasional hawkers selling chana and chips.
The match began with a delay due to rain. But, Sehwag and Gautam started to blast away with sixes and fours being hit at will. The crowd was ecstatic and strangers laughed and shouted and talked together as if they knew each other for ages. And then it rained ….. we waited for an hour and when we thought that the match will not happen, we came out. As soon as we came out and started to walk towards the parking, the rain stopped. So, we rushed back towards the stadium only to find that we wont be allowed back inside. We did not loose our enthusiasm and went to CP to watch the match. We reached CP and decided to go to Castle 9. It’s a good place to sit. We watched the match and ordered our dinner. We were surprised by the quality of food. We had never thought that the food would be so good. We had ordered for a 9 mix castle special (it’s a sizzler with all assorted non-veg stuff), a chicken lasagnea, and a chicken enchiladas. The food was really yummy. We would recommend their chicken enchiladas, it’s a must have atleast once in a lifetime.
Finally the rain spoilt the match and we all headed home disappointed to know that Delhi had lost.
