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Schumacher & Co. in Kochi?
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Yes, Schumacher and company were in Kochi, on the big screen at the Taj Resedency! VIJAY GEORGE and SUNIL NALIYATH watch all that passion with a group of fans
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Ever tried making `Schumacher's Ferrari'? Or, for that matter, `Jordan Honda'? Don't jump to wild conclusions... These are the names of two cocktails, silly! The first one is a perfect mix of Light Rum, Lime, Grenadine and Tonic and the other, well, is what they call one made of Brandy, Honey, Lime and Apple Juice, at the Taj Residency in Kochi. The event: `Passion Hour', the screening of the Formula 1 racing season's second Grand prix at Sepang for the fans in the city.
``Even though the Formula 1 craze is apparent everywhere else, it's for the first time that such a screening is done in Kerala,'' claims an upbeat Puneet Baijal of the Taj Residency. They have brought the F1 racing live on a big screen format. And where else can one opt for a more perfect ambience to have a high than the beautifully decorated `Harbour View'! The event was supported by ITC's tobacco division.
Amrit Gopinath, a marketing professional based in Kochi and an avid F1 fan is thrilled to be there. He has come with his friend Anand Mukati, a software engineer, for watching his favourite sport on the giant screen.
They feel that it always needs a group to enjoy F1 racing. And they have no doubts about who the winner of the race would be. ''Schumacher is God as far racing is concerned'',says Amrit, '' but we are sure that this time it won't be very easy with Montoya and kid brother Ralf around to give him a tough time on the track''.
The organisers had arranged a contest for those assembled there, to predict the winner. Each group was asked to select the card from the bunch given to them with details of each driver, which included his age, nationality and career records. Most of them had voted for Michael but it was the younger Schumacher in his BMW Williams car that saw the chequered flag first.
The F1 season started this year at Australia with a bang, literally. Ralf Scumacher's car flew over Reubens Barrichello's Ferrari and in the process caused heavy damage to several other cars. And the Malaysian Grandprix was also a race-fan's dream-come-true. Michael Schumacher lurched to the right and tried to block Montoya, whose car in turn was swung out of the track.
Michael Schumacher's aggressive tactic at the start of the rally itself made the viewers truly ecstatic. Joseph Thomas, who prefers to be called `Josootta', says he was really excited to see such a move.
At the end of the race, even Michael Schumacher said that the drive-through penalty imposed upon Montoya was rather harsh.Back in Kochi too, many felt so.
Vipin Peter, an engineering student, who prefers to watch the race with loads of popcorn, all alone before his television set at home, remarked that it was indeed a minor incident, ''which is quite natural in a race of this standard''.
The organisers of the `Passion Hour' are planning to arrange such screenings for the rest of the season. ''The response has been much more than what we had expected'', says David D'Silva of Taj.
They had done extensive tele-marketing with the `Harbour View' regulars. With Passion Hour they boasts of adding one more first in their track record, the other ones, for instance, happy hours and flaming cocktails.
Now they are receiving requests to show this year's `World Cup Soccer' also in the big screen format.
The place has been spruced up to rise to the occassion with an exotic range of `thrilling' cocktails.#The main criticism against the Formula 1 circuit is that there are only three biggies fighting it out for the top honours and the rest are also-rans. Even among the top three, Ferrari are yet to experiment their new model and Williams BMW team have raced themselves to the top spot. The McLaren Mercedes team seems to be nowhere in the form that they used to be in. What do the viewers feel?
``The top six drivers give us more excitement than the remaining sixteen,'' clarifies Anand Mukati. The internal politics and the lack of sponsorship has damaged the prospects of motor racing in India to some extent, according to Josootta who was formerly into motor racing.
However the success of Narain Karthikeyan has helped in getting national attention for the sport.
The introduction of F1 games in the computers have also made this game very popular.
Michael Schumacher, easily the world's richest sportsman, is the most popular driver in this part of the world too. Schumi, as he is popularly known to his fans, is poised to equal Juan Manuel Fangio's record of five F1 championship titles this year.
Finn Mika Hakkinen's one year sabbatical from F1 has been disappointing for the fans world over.Kimi Raikkonen's entry into the McLaren team in his place and Toyota's entry into the F1 circuit has been the highlights of the year so far. Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, another popular star of F1 racing shares the BMW Williams label with Ralf, but both of them are ''not good friends''.
Aren't the Schumachers and Montoya accused of being arrogant and aggressive? ''Man, they need to have the nerves to drive at a speed of over 300 kmph,'' Amrit justifies his icons.
Everyone smiles at the sight of the German brothers avoiding the Colombian star at the podium.
In the press conference that follows the three are diplomatic.
Fire works were expected from the drivers while talking to the press, but they seemed to have sorted the problems out before getting there this time, well, for a change.
The fans have no complaints too,they were in for a treat.
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