When God speaks, you
don’t hear anything! You only see – magic!
And when God of
Cricket speaks, well, you still see magic :)
It was pure magic to
hear Sachin speak with Arnab, frankly! Every word an “inspiration”; every
sentence a “quote”! It was incredibly enchanting to watch two of my favourites chat
with each other, and, frankly :)
Watching Sachin answer to Arnab’s probing – sometimes
provoking – questions, yet reverential and friendly, took me more than two
decades back. I was in Bombay – yes,
it was called Bombay then; not that i call it by any other name now; Sachin Tendulkar had become a big name by
then; and it was in the grapevine that he had met his love of life, his future
wife Anjali Mehta.
It was a Sunday afternoon and we were at the Dadar Club,
enjoying snacks while enjoying a club level tennis match between Ashok Mankad’s
son Harsh and his opponent (I don’t remember his name).Befitting a cricket
crazy country, our talks veered towards cricket and soon it got concentrated on
Sachin. Imagine: we were watching a
tennis match and talking about cricket! A friend of ours, a
born-&-brought up Mumbaikar, who happened to personally know various sportsmen
including Sachin, seeing the group’s enthusiasm extended his “generosity” and promised
to take us to meet him at his home; he only needed a couple of hours to fix up our
meeting for the coming weekend.
Wow! We spent the seemingly never-ending week counting days!
And came the day when we were to go and meet Sachin Tendulkar. Yes, the same
Sachin Tendulkar, who today is referred to as the God of Cricket!
We gathered at the Dadar Club, got into our friend’s car and
started towards Sachin’s home. Excitement was at its peak! Unbelievable! And indescribable!
And then the disaster struck! A dear
friend of ours who had suffered from heartbreak recently went into sudden depression
and refused to go anywhere. In sympathy, we friends dropped the “idea” till
next weekend, which, of course, never came.
I too did not try to cheer up my friend or insist upon rest
of us going ahead to meet Sachin as I too had recently suffered a personal loss
– assassination of my most beloved personality, Rajiv Gandhi uncle, and I too
was in not so cheerful mood. Then there was the hope that there would always be
a ‘next time’ – next week – with our Mumbaikar friend being around. Today, I
cannot believe it myself! Not even my
family, who rightly think that I have been the biggest fool to have ever walked
the planet Earth!
Soon our days in Bombay came to an end and it was time to go
back to our campus – without meeting Sachin, of course. And as the fate would
have it, within months we got the tragic news of the death of our Mumbaikar
friend and the link to Sachin Tendulkar was lost, forever. May his soul rest in
peace. We miss you, Kamlesh :(
Since then I haven’t been able to understand God’s design in
not letting that meeting happen with Sachin. I have regretted the lost
opportunity every time I see Sachin; and will continue to mourn it even post my
death. Once up there I am going to ask the God that why He not let us meet the
then future God of Cricket! Was the God
himself feeling threatened about this “imminent” competition?!
The regret regressed
little bit when I got the God sent opportunity to watch Sachin play live.
The day was 7th
February and the year was 1999. The venue was Feroz Shah Kotla ground in
Delhi. The occasion was the second test between India and Pakistan. It was the
5th day of the test match. Pakistan was batting in their 2nd
innings. The advantage was that India was fielding and thus all players were
visible on the field! And, yes, it was
then that I first saw Sachin Tendulkar live! In flesh and blood, from so
near that I could touch him! Yes, the God of Cricket was in front of me,
playing, and I simply could not believe my luck! That day too I rushed back to
Bombay of 1991. The memories of that day are so vivid that I can narrate in all
details even after 13 years!
It was indeed a
special day in my life! Not only for the fact that it was my first meeting
with Sachin Tendulkar in person but also for the fact that Anil Kumble single-handedly demolished Pakistan with his historical 10
wickets haul in an inning! What a match it was! And what a meeting it was
with the God of Cricket! And, that day too, I regretted deeply for having
missed out, yet again, on seeing Sachin for four more days during the first four
days of the test match; believe it or not, i did not go for the first four days
of the test match as i was so-called busy with routine office work whereas
actually I was wasting my cricket passes and the God’ sent lifetime opportunity!
I wonder if Sachin
would remember this fan of his in red pullover and blue jeans :)
Many years have passed since then. Cricket has evolved further
in India. We are the world Champions for the second time! T20 is the most
popular format today. IPL is a big brand globally. India has become the super power
nation as far as this sport is concerned. We may not have remained the No.1 in
various formats of the game for long but India
surely dominates – and dictates - the world of cricket!
In today’s times of too much cricket, I do not watch matches
always. Not even when my country and my favourite players – Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni – are
playing. Watching cricket matches live has also reduced drastically for me. But
watching Sachin speak about his “imminent” retirement and his doubts about his
availability for the next world cup gave me goose bumps! Indian cricket without Sachin? NO! The thought itself is frightening!
Watching Frankly Speaking I prayed to the God for letting the God of Cricket be
a part of cricket as long as possible – always, actually. I am sure even the “cricket
atheists” will join me in my prayers …
And, thanks Arnab,
for your wonderful chat with Sachin! You could bring out so far unseen
dimensions of his personality with your superb interviewing. I especially liked
your introductory comments and your concluding remarks. I am sure even Sachin
is going to remember this interview for ever, when he spoke Frankly :)
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