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.......
