Now that the IPL has become such a huge success, and Lalit Modi is being lauded for his organising skill, I know a person who can put Modi to shame. Pintu Bhai, my neighbour.
He is my neighbour and an amazing character ! He is always devising newer methods to make or save money. And I have been an accomplice on more than one occasion.

I remember we had stood for 2 hours in line for tickets for ‘Kaal’ and then 1 of the guys couldn’t make it. So, we decided to sell the tickets in black. He planned the entire thing out. We’d start selling them just 10 minutes before the show. So we waited. Policemen were stationed to avoid blackers. There were 3 of us. Each went to different corners. Within minutes, he was surrounded by a huge group of people. The actual blackers there weren’t amused, though. They roughed him up, and we had to request them to let us go as our ‘elder brothers’!!!
There was this time when he had organised a cricket tournament. He got printouts, distributed them. I travelled with him, encouraging ‘local talent’ to participate in this amazing series. Some of the teams were worse than the ‘Lagaan’ team. Finally, there were 12 teams in the competition.

He formed different groups and they were to play 3 matches against each other, and then advance to the semis. God knows what he had calculated, because we realised that finally, there were 4 teams in the final !!! A fight broke out. The final was called off.
Who had the last laugh ? Pintu bhai, of course. He had earned 135 bucks !!!