We lived in the times of Sachin Tendulkar.....

I haven’t stopped crying since sachin has retired....Many people have written and spoken about sachin.... and Iam just a mere drop in the ocean.....pouring my feelings on paper....

The announcement had come in early.. Sachin was going to retire. The media was full of news on how the little master was going to call it a day. I thought to myself well, we dont need sachin anymore.. The team does well even without him. Gone are the days when we switched of the television when sachin got out. B

ut I was wrong.. What followed was something I never expected...

When sachin was 24 and playing the superb Desert Storm inning a commentator said that if this guy is playing like this at 24 what will he be like when he is 27.. I thought to myself at that time that may sachin never retire. 

But here I was, ok with the whole thought of the master blaster calling it a day..I had seen enough of him.. In the last few years one rarely got to see the sachin of the past. In fact in the last few years the entire media ,everyone who knew remotely about cricket wanted him to retire. The thing is we love to make hero’s and we love to make them fall... we love the drama I thought to myself as I saw the advts of Sachin’s last test match. We take our hero’s for granted...but it soon dawned upon me how our hero had never taken anything for granted not even his talent...

As the D day dawned,  West indies were put into bat and they folded up by lunch. Post lunch India came on to bat. I thought to myself that I have two tickets and I will go tomorrow when sachin comes on day two.  To everyones surprise Sachin came on to bat on day 1 and like everyone we rushed to the nearest TV set to get a glimpse. I was thinking to myself, mebbe he will get a 20 to 30 odd...To everyone’s surprise here was vintage sachin playing like the old times.. and i was once again bitting my lips, hoping he never gets out. Those cracking cover drives, the backfoot drive was all back.. It looked like sachin was determined to enjoy his last game.. The day ended with sachin on 38 not out and I thought to myself lets go and watch him at the ground.. And suddenly a thought came.. 

The best tribute to sachin would be if I watched him play and then switched it off when he got out. Just like the old times.. So I asked my boss for a leave and sat home to watch sachin bat..The thing about the small guy was he raised his game to a different level when the crowds watched him.. He loves the egging of the crowd and what we call pressure is actually an environment he loves to play in.. he scored a strokefull 74 and got out. Yet another century missed.. I switched off my TV as decided and what followed was something I still cant comprehend.. I wanted him to come and bat once more in the second innings. I wanted India to fold up easily and WI to score some runs so sachin could bat again. That was not to be....

The saturday morning I put on my tv and the match was almost getting over. Suddenly I couldn’t watch tendulkar retiree...I wanted more... It felt that he had been a part of the only sport I knew for 24 years.. and maybe in the last few years we had taken him for granted..I had tears in my eyes as he gave his farewell speech..

A generation of youngsters used to imitate him and so did I. I used to wear the same blue colour adidas t shirt and wear the steel wrist band like him.... Whom do we follow now??

As he spoke I realised why this man was not only a great batsman but the god of cricket... Maybe he had decoded his life at a very early age and hence was more successful than anyone else. While speaking Tendulkar spoke about his dad told him to follow his heart but ‘Never Take Shortcuts’...I thought to myself this was so simple and yet so well demonstrated by Tendulkar.. In a country where people take shortcuts to everything right from the Traffic Signal to throwing garbage outside the bin... here is an Indian who never took any shortcut.. In fact he reminded us that great ability is of no use unless you harness it fully with lots of grit, determination and amazing amount of discipline.. Most Indians have a higher IQ than Americans but just cant resist taking shortcuts to everything.. Here was someone who stood up taller than 5.6 feet through his sheer ability to go on in the marathon of cricket.. His greatness was not his talent...nor his cricket.. for me it was his discipline and rigour and love for the game and country.. He never took anything for granted..

Here was one guy who changed the belief of the entire nation by just wading his bat...A belief that we are the best...An entire generation has to thank this small guy for showing us this belief and putting India distinctly on the world map..

 Here was one guy who thanked everyone and who was full of gratitude for his life and cricket.. Most Indians blame our country for everything wrong..Here was a man who was living gratitude.. and even thanked the BCCI and the politics.. How many of us could live in gratitude....and yet in his final moments the guy choked but thanked everyone..

As the flag waved in the background I felt proud to be an Indian, proud to be from a country where tendulkar came from.... I cried in my heart and soul as tendulkar was carried on the shoulders of MS and Virat.. I just couldn’t stop my emotions... I wanted to cry with tendulkar...

It was evening and I couldn’t stop thinking what Tendulkar would be doing now.. So me and Nitya decided to go to bandra.. and we just decided to go to tendulkars new home... I dint know why but i wanted to see his house.. We searched on google found his house and after asking a few people passed by his house in our car... I felt a sense of relief just passing by his house..It was stupid and strange but I wanted to be around him and this was my way of being around him..

Sunday morning I was again engulfed with the same emotions.. News reporters started calling him former cricketer by now.. 

Its Sunday evening and here I am still sobbing from within..24 years have passed by and I am left wondering that good things in life pass by in a flash.... Why did I not see every match.. why did i not follow him when he was struggling in his last years... Why did I take sachin for granted? Did I not know it was going to end one day?

I felt I have a strange connect with sachin. I have prayed for him followed him and loved him from my hearttt...Been superstitious enough to not watch him least he gets out... But now it was time for me to say goodbyeee..I cant go back in time....

Goodbyee sachin and I promise you I will never take shortcuts in whatever I choose to do......I will walk the path you showed us on the 22 yards..

Goodbye for I promise you that I will enjoy life like never before..so that when once in a lifetime when a miracle like you comes my way... I will enjoy those moments and other moments of life  sooo soo deeply without regrettttt. I wont take lifeee and its moments for granted...

Thank you sachin for showing us all that if we look within us there is a sachin in all of us and despite the hardships we face, through discipline, self belief and rigour we can win over the cup of life..

Thank you sachinnnn... cause we are filled with gratitude that we are Indians...and we live to tell that an Indian batted like GOD, lived like GOD and spoke like GOD....and  till our last breath we shall say sachinnnn sachinn....... 

Moment of Miracle!

It was a late Friday evening and I was walking back to my car after a hectic day. I was smiling about something special. I was remembering this special song from the movie lakshya..

Himaaat so jo koi chaleee, dhartii hile kadmo tale, kya duuriyan kya fasle, manzil laage aaake gaaalee......Since the release of the movie lakshya I have been listening to this song every single day. 

I even remember Hrithiks face full of determination  and whether I am jogging or working it stays with me. It plays on ipod while running and car stereo while driving to work..

Its amazing how time flies by... I remember, I had this dream of working in an automobile company and how I walked in for my interview.  Tensed with sweaty hands and I couldn’t believe that I had the job.

11 months had gone by with a lot of sweat and toil and here I was the most awarded and appreciated member of the marketing team. One accelerator award within 6 months before confirmation and another before a completion of the year! 

How did this all happen..I was struggling at work when i joined, putting in extra hours.. none of my goals were getting completed. I was hitting road blocks all the time..Colleagues weren’t cooperating, and achieving what I had set to do, seemed like a distant dream. I thought to myself mid year and there goes Anand again struggling in his new job.  The auto dream was almost crumbling.. but the last few months from 2013 turned out amazing.. things started moving at work and work started happening.. Before I knew it  something changed, something moved and I was at my destination.. just like what the song says ‘Manzil laage aake gaale’

I couldn’t believe myself.... but  when I look back a few experiences in life taught me a lot and helped me in this new journey...Sports helps us understand life better.. Some people say about sports that its just a game or its just a run.. but its not just a game or its not just a run...  Sports is very similar to life and hence one can draw parallels. Just like its not just a day in our life. Each run, each day each weekend counts. By the time I spend 2500 weekends I would be 50 and half my life would be over..

My running taught me that running and life are all about attitude and effort... you need to give life a 100% and most importantly not worry about the distances... Just keep your head down and look at your feet...Dont worry about the things you cant control its a waste of time...

As each day passed at my new workplace, I also listened to this wonderful track on you tube about attitude.. Its about a how a young guy asks a Guru about he could be as successful as the guru. The guru asks him to meet him at the beach next morning and takes him inside the water.. The guru asks the young guy to put his head in the water and almost drowns him..He then asks the young guy what was the only thought when you were in water and the young guy says I wanted to breathe....The guru says when you want success as bad as u want to breathe than u will be successful. You wont care about any parties, games or any movies..

So is life.. its about how bad u want it...But inspite of all of the above the goal looks elusive. Just like in sports and in running in life too you need a miracle..When you start giving it your all, the goal suddenly starts becoming more and more elusive..It seems tougher and tougher with each step. Each day becomes a conflict between the right way and the easy way..The thing is you are headed upstream and the voice you have chosen is one of defiance..With each step comes a decision to take another..And when you make that decision suddenly one day miraculously the goal comes closer to you just at the last minute after you have given it your all and you cant give anymore. Its as if the universe wants to test your persistence to the goal and the idea you believe in..So just make sure that the goal is something you really want! 

The miracle to hit the last ball six or the miracle when your muscles are aching and cramping and you still run your best timing at the last minute. We dont know how it happens but its just happens..How do we get the strength?  Some may call it plain luck and some may call it just hardwork. But I believe in a miracle..It needs a miracle to complete a project at work when all the odds are stacked against you and your backs on the wall.

On that day when I walked back to my car humming the song, I knew the Miracle in my life...All the effort and the attitude helps but its the small miracles in your life which help you cross the line just in time when it seemed like you would not make it. 

I like to believe that what they show in movies is true.. When Aamir needs a last ball six from the movie in lagan he closes his eyes and prays even as the bowler runs towards him, somewhere knowing that it may be not possible but he prays for a miracle. He thinks about all the people close to him...

I believe this job in Mahindra came as a gift and a blessing to me from Nitya’s mom. All through her life she worked very hard without expecting anything in return and I would like to imbibe the same. She inspired me through her attitude and deeply touched me with her actions. She worked hard not because she had to do it but it was out of love. Her little miracles had saved me many a times at work..

As I walked to my car I looked at the sky with gratitude and smiled for the little miracles which made the jobs at work easier..Its when I least expected things moved...I had experienced a Moment of Miracle in my life that night.

On her birthday I thank her for all the little miracles... 

So the next time we are out early and we catch a glimpse of a athlete running wet with sweat deprived of breath,  and he cant run any further. Or a colleague working very hard trying as a determined force to achieve something at work.  Both mentally driving their body beyond pain, fatigue and beyond reason to the point of exhaustion. How far they will push themselves when no one is watching them is really the essence.  But at that moment take a pause, look closer and feel fortunate that we may just get to see that someone experience their moment of Miracle!