The day the Earth stood still

The most extraordinary of stories have the most plain and evident starts, you never quite make out when you’re part of one, it’s only as you tread forward on those ordinary paths that you slowly begin to realize along the way that you are part of a bigger conspiracy.

I was probably the age of six and my birthday was approaching, like every child my excitement too was going through the roof in anticipation of a present, and being the impatient and spry kid that I was, I could gauge that the present was already there a day before. From what I could make out it was not the regular board game or something similar to it, it was something different; as I approached it I realized it was a willow. There was a sticker on top of it and it read- Sachin Tendulkar. That marked the beginning of perhaps what is, as of now, the longest chapter of my life.

Days passed by and the piece of wood was subject to all sorts of atrocities. If you've ever been part of gully cricket you would know that there is always a resource crunch; the bat, therefore, was used by all and sundry. Still it lasted for quite some time but not as much as the man whose sticker probably gave that extra longevity to it.

What that present essentially did was, it made me conscious of a certain name playing for our country and created one of the earliest bookmarks in my mind of a person who was going to create a big impression on my life going forward, transforming from that ‘certain name’ to ‘The name’ for me. As I tried and waded through the reality distortion field, perhaps this is the farthest I could reach out, making it my first memory of him.

But post this event, the picture turns very clear. If I were to plot all his memories on the number line of my life it will be a continuous ray emanating from that first incident and still heading strongly alongside my lifeline. No breaks, no abruptions.

All through my life I have been tempted to turn to the second last page of the paper the moment I got my hands on it, not because it had to do with Sports but because my mind craved to know that little extra about him.

 I boosted my ego in his glory; I enjoyed each of his tons as if it were my own. A bad score in tests would suddenly be pushed to oblivion if he scored well and at the same time there was no greater a disappointment than watching him get out cheaply. Sadly, now he is snatching the possibility of all of this happening in future from me, but he certainly can’t take all the memories away. 

From school to college, from college to being a working professional, a lot has changed but the meaning of cricket has remained the same for me. It only meant him and continues to mean the same.

As he says goodbye to the game, I want him to know that all that anxious shuffling on the crease, the roar from the crowd as he stepped out on the field and that ephemeral agitation on that otherwise calm face resulting from the sight screen adjustment, all this will be missed.  

The game of cricket would only lose the most complete batsman in its history but as for me I would lose a companion. A companion who had tethered me to a sport from which, I already feel withdrawn. Again it is because of that top notch level of cricket that he made me so used to that the current game appears so uninspiring, and it is for this very reason that worshippers will flock in huge numbers so as to savor the last installment of class being offered at Wankhede.

As he gets ready for his swansong and takes that final stride forward, let’s acknowledge him for the times he trounced the best with his sheer genius, let’s all take a moment to pay our respect to the once sixteen year old who grew bigger than the game itself.

Reminiscing what Harsha said, “Sachin, you were a great habit”, I thank you for the infinite joy you have given me.

-If they ever tell my story, let them say... I saw giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat... but these names will never die. Let them say I lived in the time of Dravid, the tamer of bowling attacks. Let them say... I lived in the time of Tendulkar.