Bengaluru: Many dream of watching football world cup matches live in stadiums, but not everyone realizes their dream. It needs big funds, big sacrifices and big determination. That's what sets these two young professionals from the city apart - they've saved up every penny since 2015, to travel to Russia to watch the spectacle.
Abhishek Pathak, a resident of Koramangala and a software consultant at a private firm, was determined to make it to Russia to watch the World Cup matches. "My friend Arpan Bhandari and I were college mates and we wanted to watch the World Cup. As soon as we started working in 2015, we saved all the money we could. We knew that no matter what, we had to be there to watch our first football World Cup." Abhishek, an ardent follower of Bengaluru Football Club (BFC), said, "As the draws were announced, we tried booking our tickets on the first-come-first-serve basis, but did not get any tickets. We were disappointed and thought that we may not make it this time around. But we kept trying and in the end, we were lucky to get tickets for eight matches and also book our two-way flight tickets. We will leave on June 16 and will be back on July 10."
Abhishek and Arpan will watch eight games in six cities - Sochi, Moscow, Volvograd, Kazan, Saransk and Samara. They will be in the stadiums with people from across the world to watch England versus Tunisia, Portugal versus Iran and a few more matches, including a tie at the knockout stage.
"We wanted to watch the final, but we don't have the tickets yet. But we will try and if we get the tickets there will be nothing like it," said Abhishek.
Abhishek, who had gone to Qatar to watch a BFC match, says this is his first World Cup. "I have seen people saving up to buy cars, expensive gadgets or an apartment. I thought I had time for all that. I wanted to feel the rush and joy of being in a stadium to watch the matches live and come back home to tell everyone about my experiences."
He said that each ticket cost them anywhere between Rs 7,000 and Rs 25,000 and the total came to about Rs 1 lakh. The entire cost, including travel and stay, will cost Rs 3 lakh each. "When I come back, I will have nothing in my bank account, but I will have loads of memories that I can share with all for a long time. While in Russia and in one of the cities where the match is happening, we don't have the tickets. But we will go to Fan Fests to get the
feel of the crowd," he said. Wearing Indian football Jersey and Bengaluru Football Club scarf:
* "I will watch all the matches wearing our country football jersey and the Bengaluru FC scarf. I will also spread the word around about our country and the city's football team," he beamed.
