Phenomenon

As an Indian I could as well have committed hara-kiri than make the statement that I am about to make. But then each human being is entitled to his or her say and thus I continue to make my statement, which is that “I am not a fan of Sachin Tendulkar.” You can for instance not be a fan of so many things which are patriotic and yet go scot free but to not to be a fan of Sachin and still be a true Indian may be something unheard off or practically impossible. That is the sweep this 36 year old Indian cricketer has on the 1.1 billion cricket crazy Indians living in India and on most of the diaspora spread all over the world. This phenomenal rise of a middle class Mumbaiiker is unmatched and beyond any comparison.
India has been a cricketing nation for over a hundred years and the country has in the due course produced astounding batsmen and bowlers. However there have been limits to their reach and accordingly to their popularity. Sachin Tendulkar’s rise in the world of cricket can be compared to mythological phoenix which soars high and lives for over 1000 years. To hold centre stage in the competitive world of today’s cricket for 20 years is no mean task. The form in which he is now definitely ensures many more years of mesmerizing cricket. I am not here to write about the records created by Sachin, for he has broken all the previous records held by various batsmen in the different cricketing countries and is now the holder of all records put together. Ask a ten year boy in India as to how many centuries Sachin has scored in tests and pat would come the reply. Or ask another 10 year old of his ODI centuries and without batting an eyelid, they are out with the answer.
The youth of today are in so much of awe of the one and only Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who they have seen right from their infancy to their adulthood. I am sure his must be one of the faces they would even associate with the television. Some of his present day team mates come from this generation and from what we hear, he shares an excellent rapport with them. It is said that he is a TEAM MATE. He has won all the cricketing awards many times over and as far as his career goes there is only so much more he can achieve. The back breaking T-20 format would definitely be a bit hard on him; however there is nothing to stop this cricketer from pursuing excellence. The fire that started burning very early in his life continues to do so and I wont be wrong if I say that that fire is at its brightest now. Does that mean we will have Sachin playing for another twenty years? Much as many big names like Lata Mangeshkar and Amitabh Bachan would want that to happen, the truth is that it will not be so for like in all things in life, changes are inevitable.
I too must have heard the name Sachin Tendulkar during the year 1988 when two 15 year old school friends took the cricketing world by storm with their histrionic performance of scoring a mammoth unbeaten 664 run partnership. The other friend was Vinod Kambli who also wore the India cap. I did not get to watch his first series in Pakistan nor his second one in New Zealand. Both these series as far as the player went, were nothing great to write home about, however the third series he played was in England in the year 1990 and as luck would have it, I was there that summer holidaying with my sister and brother in law and thus got to watch most of the matches on television. What made the experience worthwhile was the fact that my brother in law is an ace cricketer. There was this one point in his life when he was contemplating between a career in medicine and cricket. I don’t know if cricket’s loss turned out to be the medical world’s gain; however what I can say is that he is a great doctor and has been judged as the best teacher in MUSC, US for a record number of times. Now coming back to the game of cricket at Old Trafford in August 1990 - the two of us would watch it together; I had to remain a mute spectator, for he did not like any distraction while watching. However during the breaks, he made sure he explained the nuances to me. I grabbed in a lot from him during the few summers I spent with them in the UK. He was keen on watching Sachin, for he too was seeing him in action for the first time. Another player whom he was interested in was Anil Kumble. Two reasons for the interest were, one the fact that he was a spinner (which my brother in law too was) and second he came from the state of Karnataka (my brother in law’s home state)
Thus that summer via the small screen I imbibed a lot of cricket, I also learnt the social ethics of the crowd, the enthusiasm of the Indian supporters, and so on and so forth. Although the match ended in a draw, the feather in the cap was the Man of the Match being awarded to Sachin Tendulkar. This did not come as a surprise for he had scored a half and full century and had also taken a couple of catches. It was indeed a moment of pride for us Indians to see the cherubic teenager come over and collect his award. What left us feeling sad was the fact that he was too young for the big bottle of Champagne that went with the award. I am sure he must received hundreds of awards later, but what makes me happy is that fact that I witnessed live his first test century and clapped till my palms pained when he received his first International Award.
Among the many things he holds precious which I am sure will include his various cricketing memorabilia, the innumerable awards, the raciest cars that are his passion, the thirteen one rupee coins given to him by his mentor Ramakant Achrekar, and the heartfelt good wishes of his country men, I wonder whether that unopened bottle of “Bubbly’ finds a place.
God Bless this great man, God Bless his parents who brought him to this world and God bless all those who were instrumental for the cricketing world to have a Sachin Tendulkar. One thing I hope I have made myself clear, by not being his fan, I was not trying to say that he is not good enough. I don’t care for the fan concept and to me unnecessary adulation only results in a person’s downfall.
I wonder how much longer we will have to wait before a similar phenomenon to the one that occurred on 24th April 1973 will recur.