Yes, my adrenaline is pretty high as I write this.. India has just lost a game ala the 90's to Australia.. Tendulkar, the archetypal boy-on-the-burning-deck..1992..As an 8 year old, I was up at 5:30 am waiting to watch India's match on Australian soil... Dad and Mom knew it.. Their elder son's religion wasn't just Hinduism..It was Cricket too...
I remember watching a shy teenager on TV endorsing for Gillette razor blades. I don't think he looked of shave-able(!) age.. "Gillette, the best a man can get" was the ad caption...His name was Sachin Tendulkar.. Instantly, I must have thought wow its easy to come on television after playing cricket cos "My name is Sachin too!!"..
World cup 1996.. I was to perform a priest's role in my School Annual Day function in Hyderabad.. As I was practising in the rehearsals, my heart was elsewhere.. India was playing the 1st game of 1996 WC at Cuttack vs Kenya... No cell phones.. Some weird pagers floating around..I wanted to know how Tendulkar was going.. He made 127 magnificent runs and I realized, my heart beats for this game.. By the end of 1996, cricket had fully engulfed me...Prime reason was my namesake..."Sachinn Sachhinn" as the crowds chant..
Wherever I was asked my name, they jokingly used to ask "U said ur name is Sachin? Sachin Tendulkar?? :)".. Instant smile on my face.. Who gets the same name as their hero...Almost an honor I thought..
I will leave the analysis of his career to a later date when he hangs up his boots (a day that I truly dread)...
Just imagine you have a fairytale dream.. You top your class, you get the job you want, the car you want, all the money you need and more, marry the girl of your dreams and end up as an uber successful entrepreneur..You are bound to lose your head somewhere.. "The world is under my feet.. There is no one called God..I am God" etc are thoughts bound to come to your head...
Tendulkar's career is fairytale (forgetting the blood, sweat and guts for a moment)...If someone had told me this man will play for 20 years, I would have been skeptical...I would have said "I think he can..Lets see".. I see it today...He is playing with people who landed on Earth after his debut and he still shows the same commitment...
How he has not let that "I am God" thought go to his head and almost become God for all cricket fanatics is a free tutorial on how to handle money, fame and adulation... I haven't heard one negative report about the man..And I live in the Sansanikhez era of the Aaj Taks and Star News'.. I haven't heard him come up with a cocky statement "I will do this.. I will do that" Nothing. He just lets his bat do the talking..
Me and my friend were discussing how we should wait for Tendulkar to retire, before all of us decide to take the plunge..Cos the spouse will surely not be happy with the lack of attention. (Watching Tendulkar bat will anyday take priority ..I say that on record :) :) )
I usually hate calling anyone God.. Rahman, Sampras, Federer I respect them a lot.. But, God? No... I have usually denied that Tendulkar is God..But in his career, there were fleeting moments when I have felt that there is no purpose living in denial anymore...This feeling isnt very sustained, even this brevity is proof of his stature..
He can be described as the world's greatest cricketer and a far greater human being...
And this isn't hyperbole....But, the day he hangs up his boots and walks off with his India shirt for the last time, I will feel something within me is missing...Many grown up Indian men the world over will shed a tear...I will be one of them...
