My first memory of God is switching on the television,
surfing to ESPN and watching a short diminutive man hit a red ball with an
absolutely straight bat and a still demeanor, back at an onrushing blonde who
had run in at 150 kmph, with the utmost composure and simplicity.
Needless to
say no one moved in the rest of the field. As Mathew Hayden would later go on
to elucidate what traversed my mind that day, “I have seen God. He bats at No.
4 for India.”
If we consider an Economic Times report to be true and
consider cricket to be India’s third most defining religion (although according
to me it must rank much higher) after Hinduism and Islam then Sachin Tendulkar
is undoubtedly the Zeus in the pantheon of cricketing Gods . As that dreaded
day in November 2013 edges closer when he will let the curtains fall down on an
illustrious 24-year old career , indeed not only cricket but all world
religions will be poorer by a God.
Indeed such is the enigma called Sachin Tendulkar that even
in a nation like USA where cricket is a poorer cousin of baseball, barely known
of in most parts, the president Barack Obama once said, “I would like to watch
Sachin play, not because I particularly understand the game, but because when
he bats my country’s production goes down by half.”
Yet surprisingly if cricketing technique had been the only
parameter of judgement then Sachin Tendulkar would most definitely not have
been placed alone atop the divine cricketing hierarchy for players like Brian Lara,
Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, and Sunil Gavaskar among a few others definitely compare quite magnificently with The Little
Master in terms of cricketing skill. What sets apart Sachin is his approach
towards the game, an approach that is iconic of him and him only – an approach
where he never assumes himself to be the master of the game that he loves so
much but always remaining a student, a student who learns something new after
every ball even after 24 years in the cricketing circuit, a student who is not
afraid to rediscover himself, a student who prepares for every match as
diligently as he prepared for the very first one , a student who places the
game above all else never for once considering himself greater than the game.
That is the Tendulkar Phenomenon.
In fact ad man Prahlal Kakkar , once while shooting an ad
film with Tendulkar had asked him to swat a fly with a cricket bat . Tendulkar
put his foot down, refusing to do anything of the sort which projected himself
as greater than the game. The cricket bat was replaced by a fly swatter in the
ad. In his 24-year old career Sachin has never once promoted any item of
intoxication or any item with health hazards although undoubtedlty deals with
McDowells or Kingfisher or even Wills would have made him richer by more than
ten times of what he is worth now. Many powerful messages through one simple action.
That is the Tendulkar Phenomenon.
When Gavaskar retired many proclaimed that his 34 centuries
shall never be eclipsed. When Kapil Dev retired many proclaimed that his 434
wickets shall always remain a world record. Both stand shattered today. Perhaps
Tendulkar’s numerous records will not stand the test of time. Perhaps each one
of his records will be ceremoniously displaced from its lofty pedestal but
undoubtedly, Sachin himself can never be replaced, nor can he ever be displaced
for the simpler reason that Tendulkar was not only about cricket , he was about
so much more. Perhaps cricket was more about Tendulkar.
Indeed the crowds outside television showrooms watching
their God, the crowds at the roadside tea stalls hearing the commentators
describe their God’s actions, the crowds well past midnight at airports to
welcome their God, the crowds in the midday heat outside ticket counters
waiting vociferously to get their hands on the prized piece of paper allowing
them to view their God, the Indian crowds at stadiums all over the world
cheering the fall of an Indian wicket because it would mean their God would
walk in and the foreign crowds sighing in anguish and the entire stadium giving
their God a standing ovation on his walk back to the pavilion (making it
difficult to discern an Indian stadium form a foreign one) all represent the
Tendulkar Phenomenon.
All this will not end
with Tendulkar but all this definitely started with Tendulkar.
For Tendulkar has for more than 2 decades
not only carried the hopes of more than a million people on his shoulders but
has down it humbly and with utmost diligence. Never has Tendulkar disrespected
an on-field or off-field official for a glaring mistake, never has he disrespected
a fellow opponent for anything said to him, never has he disrespected the
thousands to come to watch him play, never has he in any way disrespected the game
and it is this love for the game that sets him apart from everyone else. Never
did Tendulkar fear to stand up for what he thought was right, even turning in
his own team mates Ajay Jadeja ,Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia for betting
and match-fixing . The real victory however came for Sachin when the same
Jadeja gave him not one but two guards of honour in his last Ranji match
against Haryana. As JK Rowling had once written, “It takes great courage to
stand up to your enemies but even greater courage to stand up to your friends
“.That is the Tendulkar Phenomenon.
Sachin Tendulkar, in short transcended
cricket without for once letting himself rise above the game, keeping his feet
firmly on the ground. The young Sachin, with long locks always wanted to be a
fast bowler so that his hair would fly when he ran in but being shorter than
average he was advised against it by Denis Lille and Sachin immediately
directed all his efforts towards his batting. Indeed it’s not easy to hear
someone squashing your dreams but it’s even more difficult to have the heart to
dream again. Sachin not only recognized a lost cause but dreamt again and by
God, if not for Lille and Sachin’s will to make it big in cricket, we might
have lost a God to arrogance. Tendulkar’s life teaches us more lessons than an
average day in school. That is the Tendulkar Phenomenon.
Perhaps there will never be another Sachin
Tendulkar to grace us with his presence and if that turns out to be true , I’m
immensely proud to be of the same nationality as The Little Master for no on
epitomizes “Great things come in small packages” more than him. I will tell the
future generations with pride that I was once religious, that I have seen magic
beyond cutting up people and making them vanish, that I have seen the most
complicated of things done in the simplest of willow flicks, that I was a
witness to the Tendulkar Phenomenon.
P.S. - I will tell them with pride that
the God chose Kolkata as the venue of his penultimate test and I was there to
bid him goodbye.
