The Legend turns 43

"There is hardly anything that is not written or said about this man" - Even this statement has been written or said by so many which leaves me with zero new thoughts to write this blog. But then I thought, as a blogger agar Sachin pe nahi likha toh kya likha? So I came up with an idea to put up the story of his impact on my life.

February 21st, 1996 - India was playing the two time world champion West Indies at Gwalior in the quadrennial grandeur. We had guests over at our place for dinner and all were busy watching Sachin bat. I was alien to cricket at that time so much so that whenever my grandfather would put on cricket on TV, I would cry and beg him to shut it down and tell me stories instead. But watching all cheer for this little man that evening gave me a complex - a complex of not being able to appreciate something glorious happening on the global canvas. I watched the entire match trying to understand cricket, pretending to cheer with others. At one instance, the ball was in air all were sad that this will be caught, but it was dropped and a synchronous shout echoed in the hall. I remember my father saying, "Even God wants to watch him bat". I was awestruck. With the limited assessment ability of a 7-year old, I decided that this guy is a superhuman, whom even the God wants to watch bat. The belief firmed up in my mind later in the semis at Eden, when the team collapsed from 98 for 1 to 120 for 8 immediately after Sachin's dismissal and the stadium was set ablaze by the fans.

By the time I started following cricket, Sachin was already established as a legend. The cliche 'Sachin ne kiti kelet?' was heard more often than 'Score kya hua?' Then came the miraculous sand-storm followed by run-storm in Sharjah where he was conferred the title of 'one-man army'. All this was building up towards a great climax for the World Cup 2003 when he lead the wins against Sri Lanka  and Pakistan till the finale spoiled it. It was a slower one from McGrath and he mishit in the air to be caught. Wanderers went into silence, the chase of a mammoth 359 failed and a teary eyes Sachin collecting Player of the Tournament trophy was seen by a teary eyed me. The World Cup trophy was just behind him - so close yet so far. The picture above depicting this scene was in my study throughout my stay at home - so close yet so far. Then followed a lot of criticism of him not being a big match player, focusing on personal records, too old to play, etc. Injuries, tennis elbow eclipsed the career. It impacted me, I had to defend my faith in him to almost everyone discussing cricket with me.

So was the era, the aura over? No. Like all legends, he bounced back with some great knocks in all formats of the game, conquering milestones, mauling the opposition like he did in 1998. The tears again welled up in his eyes and mine on April 2nd, 2011. But this time those were the tears of joy, since the WC trophy behind him in 2003 was now in his hands. 'This one for you, Sachin' was the unanimous heartbeat of every player and every follower of the game. Like Bheeshma in Mahabharat, he had achieved what he had arrived for and his glory had gifted him a boon of being a Mrityunjay. But I somewhere knew that there will be a time when he will decide to hang his boots, and used to get saddened by the thought. I missed a team outing at office to watch his last match. He was still nonchalant, standing tall on the back foot and punching the ball towards cover, as if he has just arrived and has 24 more years of cricket left in him. Once again both of us shed tears on November 16, 2013 when he bid adieu to the 22 yards.

I often wonder what led to such popularity of this guy that made people think of him in their prayers. The reason is that he was the-boy-next-door for every cricket lover - Aapla Sachin. He is a symbol of hope that everyone can dream and make the dreams come true against all the odds. But more importantly, he is an institution which teaches us not only how to succeed but how to be humble in success. There are quite a few people who rose from adversity to stardom, but very few have been able to handle the stardom. Sachin is one of those few. I used to post a status on Facebook every April 24th saying ' Happy Birthday to the best man to walk the cricket field. May you play till we live.' When the status popped up today in my Facebook look-back memories, the second part of the status made me realize how much of unrealistic expectations I and many like me had from him. And what sets him apart and makes him a legend is that he carried all those expectations and not only survived but succeeded, and how? I would like to tweak the status for his 43rd birthday - 'Happy Birthday to the best man to walk the cricket field. May you inspire us and the generations to come for eternity'.