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07:32 AM
Bikram Vohra
JournalismPakistan.com
March 25, 2013
What's with these celebs who come hours late or don’t come at all and leave the fans stranded. You’d think they were finding cures for dreadful diseases or saving mankind, not plucking a guitar and rhyming ‘chic’ with ‘mick’ or something equally inane. But I also have a beef with the way seats are marked.
Like if you have a ticket that says Row A then it is reasonable to assume that you will be seated in a pretty upfront area. I speak from experience based on a reasonable education that taught me A is the first letter of the alphabet and has a natural precedence. Like in A-one, A grade, A for Ace, that sort of thing.
So, there you are, having convinced wife that her husband is quite important, don't you know, and let's go and have a good time at this function.
You fetch up at the auditorium, dressed to kill and produce your tickets marked A16 and A17 with a flourish and the usher says, back, back of the hall.
No, no, no, you say, these are A row, up in front.
The usher grins hugely, then waves his hands at you as if to say, not for you, they aren't, chump!!
Much to your chagrin you discover that A row loses out to other rows. Lots of other rows. Dozens of other rows. Never has A been given such short shrift. A is bad scene, A is there in the lower stalls. There are the VVIP rows which are distinctive from the VIP section which has an edge on the sponsors seats and these are in front of the organizers’ friends, co-sponsors, co-co sponsors, mini-sponsors, teeny weeny sponsors, media partners, which lead into the "Reserved" seats after which there is Row AA and Row BB ad nauseum and something called Press and Media after which, hurrah, staggers in Row A.
Now, you are about 10 rows from the end of the hall and your wife has gone all frosty (you made her dress for this) and next to you is this family of six and the children are making slurping sounds as they suck through straws and your wife says, wait till we get home.
And I am confident there are scores of people out there who can't quite figure out why a play or a variety show needs chief guests and VIP guests to get it off the ground. All they do is fetch up late and give deadly boring speeches.
And if we didn't have them we wouldn't have all these rows reserved for these so called dignitaries, and common folks like you and me wouldn't be in big trouble with our wives, which is a very important aspect as any married man will tell you.
Also, A would be restored to its historical glory.
(The writer is a Senior Editorial Advisor of Khaleej Times and the paper’s former Editor. He has also been the Editor of Gulf News, Gulf Today, Emirates Today and Bahrain Tribune)
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