No, hold on! Before you start hurling abuses at me for having such a mysterious and controversial title, let me explain. The Indian GP was something that I was whole-heartedly looking forward to, since the day it was announced that India would be holding a Formula 1 Race! Seriously speaking, I have never-ever in my wildest dreams thought that I would get to see a Formula 1 Race (of all other sports!) in my Mother-land! I never even thought that I would get to say the words “Indian GP”! Although I don’t quite follow F1 like some other die-hard fans do, but my interest lied more in creating some photographs of the first, historic race that this country had seen, rather than the outright race, you see. After all, we Indians who have grown up on Cricket (which is not the National sports of our country, just incase you had started to wonder) were to get a dose of real speed, real sports! I have never been a fan of Cricket, ever! Yes, I know that India did win the World Cup, and what not, but Cricket is something which never really interested me, if I may be frank and bold here, knowing very well that 100 out of 100 people (yes, and that is NOT a typo!) absolutely love, eat, sleep, and dare I say want to reproduce the next Sachin Tendulkar! Oh, now that I have mentioned Tendulkar, it was a surprise, albeit a very pleasant one to see him waving the chequered flag at the end of the first Indian Grand Prix. He goes down the history books, alright (as if he wasn’t there already, because of his cricketing achievements).
Anyhow, that is not the point. The point is, as luck would have it, the media pass was declined by FIA for reasons I am not sure of, because I have not got any official mail from them stating the refusal of my media pass (till now!), although I was clearly told over a phone call that I received a week prior to the Race, about how I would be getting a call directly from the FIA! Yes, it is disappointing and something which hugely upset me. I am not somebody who can just go and spend 6k, 8k, or 15k and buy a ticket instantly to go and watch it “Live”. I understand there were cheaper tickets too, viz-a-viz Rs.3k ones, but believe you me, I could NOT even afford to spend Rs.3,000 odd. Yes, I AM extremely under-paid, and I hardly have any money in my hand, especially at the end of the month. More so, because I was SO hopeful of acquiring a media pass, right till the last moment; a pass which never saw the light of the day. I am told that the media pass for the Indian media was extremely limited and hence television was given priority, apart from International media. I understand this fact very well; after all, even Formula 1 is a ‘business’, apart from being a top-sport as well.
I had applied for the media pass through the accreditation form which was provided to us Journalists (Photographers) during the last week of August/ first week of September, 2011 which I duly filled and submitted to the Formula 1 (FIA) authority with all the necessary documents. But, it is really disheartening to see that “real” people/ publications who HAD certain chances of making it to the F1 track were refused their respective passes, and certain TV channels (I would not ofcourse name them) who had zero/ zilch idea about what an F1 race is all about were granted access happily. TV channels, whose journalists ask absolute silly questions to the top officials of FIA, like, “When is the tournament going to start?” For God’s sake, “TOURNAMENT!!??” Dude, this is not a rugby match, or a cricket World Cup you are talking about, this if F1 (Formula 1) for crying out loud, quite possibly one of THE biggest sporting event that human-kind has ever witnessed (and I am not counting Soccer, here). Cricket, my dear journo friend does not even COUNT here! So, there.
Disappointment is still all over me, even after the actual race is over. All I could do was watch helplessly on television, what was an amazing race, and a really awesome arrangement by JayPee Group. Kudos to them, for creating a world-class structure for holding, what, unarguably is a world-class sporting event. However, for me, it was all spoilt when Vettel was handed the trophy by none other than Miss Mayawati herself! I mean, what was SHE doing in an F1 race, in the first place!? I understand the fact that the track being in the heart of Uttar Pradesh, she had the “right” to be there, but FIA, what were you thinking!? Or may be FIA didn’t even have a clue as to who she was or where the heck did she appear from!
Nonetheless, history was created, and I am sure there are more races to come in the coming year(s); opportunities for Photographers like me, who would give their life and limb to create a few photographs of such an amazing sports as Formula 1!
