Come Wednesday, and India will gear up to meet arch rivals Pakistan in the ultimate face-off. What is rated as the “match of the decade”, this battle of willows has kept the corporate sector in Pune quite interested. While some enterprises have told their employees to stay away from office and work from home, others have declared a holiday to ascertain that employees don’t miss a single ball bowled in Mohali, the venue for the ultimate clash.
Parag Gupta, managing director, of a Pune-based firm that offers information technology and enables services, said, “We are offering all kind of options to our employees. If they want they can take the entire day off, or can work early hours and go home early to watch the match at home, or work normal hours if they do not intend to watch the match at all.”

There are also many companies in the city who have not declared a holiday, but have made all necessary arrangements for the employees to watch the match in the office, which include soft drinks and snacks to hike-up the fun factor.

Employees have been granted the liberty to work from home at some of the corporate firms. A human resource (HR) manager from a renowned IT company in Pune said, “Although, we have made all the necessary arrangements to watch the match live in our offices, we have also provided employees with the option to work from home.”

Another HR manager of an entry-level IT firm, Rakesh Singh said, “Our company have declared a holiday on Wednesday. However, employees in order to make up for the day will have to work on the following Saturday.”

According to Vineet Bharadwaj – CEO of a famous food portal, “It is a big match and we don’t want our employees to miss the action. We have decided to install a TV and in order to cheer Team India; we will follow a green, orange and white theme in the office. We can’t afford to close our office, as we are into online food ordering and delivering business, and I am sure the day would be super charged with orders flowing in from all parts of the city. In order to keep our employees motivated on the big day, we have decided to give them an extra day’s pay.”

Aditya Kumar, who works in a career counseling firm, said that his company too is getting a projector and food in the office. Prashant Dighe, MD and CEO of another corporate house in Pune said the company has allowed the staff to watch the match online at their workstations.

An outsourced product development company, which has its own cricket team, has always recognized the spirit and exhilaration associated with cricket. “Cricket in India is religion. It is more than just a game. We will be screening the match for our employees in our office cafeteria and auditorium. To enjoy the match without any professional hiccups, we have urged our employees to manage their work and deliverables in this entire week and get done with all pending assignments. Earlier, we had screened the Indian vs Australia match as well,” said Kishor Deshpande, senior vice-president of human resources.

Rugwed Karnik, director of an advertising company said his company has decided to work for the first half, and during the second half all the employees together can watch the match.

When the corporate houses are going all guns to engulf its employees in cricketing fervor, Pune police, in order to avoid any kind of untoward incident, have decided not to allow any big screens on main thoroughfares. The decision was taken to cut-down traffic jam and prevent any troublesome incidents from taking place in a post-match situation. City cops decided to stop any kind of public screening following the incident after the quarter-final match between India and Australia last week, where people thronged Fergusson College Road, Jungli Maharaj Road, Mahatma Gandhi Road and Tilak Road.

Traffic got stranded on these roads and came to an absolute halt for nearly two hours on Thursday night. India won the match and what followed was celebratory throngs, especially of the youth, had started driving recklessly on city roads in processions, accompanied by triumphant sloganeering.

Dnyaneshwar Phadtare, Deputy Commissioner of Police said that the police department has received many requests from Ganpati mandals and prominent workers seeking permission to put up giant screens at different junctions across the city. “We held a meeting and finally reached a decision that we will not allow such screens on or near the roads which might lead to traffic jam. After Thursday’s match, some emergency vehicles, like ambulances, got caught in a traffic jam caused by people,” said Phadtare.

Phadtare also added that people are expecting India to win and things might take an ugly turn depending on the final outcome of the match. Local politicians, Ganpati mandals, local politicians, and influential persons of particular localities usually install screens during cricket matches. Crowds commonly gather around these screens to enjoy the match and that leads to massive traffic jams. Police have identified sensitive areas in Pune and have ordered adequate bandobast in those areas, including city’s main roads and junctions.

“The semi-final match between India and Pakistan will certainly be a treat to watch. But I think people should hold on to their nerves and take it as a game, and not get carried away emotionally and resort to violent activities, if Pakistan wins,” opines Shirin Ganguly, a cricket enthusiast.

- Siddhartha Laik