Ace cricketer and Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni set a great example on Monday afternoon when he flew in a chartered plane to his hometown to cast his vote.
In between IPL matches — Dhoni played in Mohali against Kings XI on Sunday and will captain his team in a play-off match against Mumbai Indians in Chennai on Tuesday — stayed in his hometown for some three hours. He flew back to Chennai after casting his vote at his old school, JVM-Shyamali, in Doranda.
Around 12.55pm, Dhoni, carrying his daughter Ziva, and followed by his wife Sakshi and his parents Pan Singh and Devaki Devi, emerged from a black Mercedes Benz in front of JVM-Shyamali. Escorted by a posse of security men, they went inside the polling booth (number 378), even as over a hundred fans jostled for a closer look.
The family came out of the polling booth in about 15 minutes, leaving fans another opportunity to jostle. However, Mahi, still carrying Ziva, and Sakshi, got into the Merc and drove away. His father Pan Singh told this reporter, “We haven’t changed our polling booth from the olden days, we like coming here.”
Asked if Dhoni was headed to the airport, Singh added, “Yes, Mahi came from Mohali by a chartered flight and has to go to Chennai now.”
Fans, many of who were waiting since 11am, were thrilled. Voter Ayushi Sahu, who came to the booth with her nephew, a huge Dhoni fan, was happy. “I found it to be so cute that Dhoni carried his daughter all along. And my nephew is over the moon,” Sahu said.
Some were disappointed. A young girl was heard telling her friend how she missed clicking a selfie with the cricketer despite standing so close to him on JVM-Shyamali campus. “By the time I clicked the camera button, he had moved out of the frame,” she rued.
Ziva on Insta video
Little Ziva, all of four, stole hearts on her father’s Instagram (mahi7781) video on Monday as she said, “Go and vote as mama and papa did.” Ziva, looking adorable in an ivory frock, was sitting on the lap of her smiling dad with the voter’s ink on his finger. Dhoni’s video had the caption: Use your power. Dhoni has 13 million followers on Instagram.