TWENTY YEARS & COUNTING

Every once a while, a great soul will emerge and sweep humanity off its feet, so Hindus believe. It was a balmy November morning in Karachi twenty years ago (1989), that a great soul had come to light. Chandu Borde, the then manager of the Indian cricket team had handed the India test cap to a little shy boy, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Borde recalls being awoken at night by the noise of Tendulkar tapping the ball in his hotel room, practicing his strokes. A precocious young talent, he was just waiting to explode. When this was happening in Pakistan, Berlin wall divided Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany) and German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany), USSR was not yet split into Russia and 14 other different nations, and many college going kids of today were not born!

In his first test series, in spite of being hit in the nose by the speedster Waqar Younis, the young teen showed tremendous character to continue playing with a blood soaked face and shirt. I still remember watching this series as a little boy, seeing those grainy feed from Doordarshan- my earliest recollection of watching cricket. From that series, I remembered nothing later on but a few hazy pictures and one name- Sachin Tendulkar. It is no wonder that it was his majesty who inspired me (and millions others subsequently), not just in cricket or sports, but in various aspects of life in general. And very soon, Tendulkar-mania swept across the nation.

He was everywhere. He cemented his place in the Indian team, and very soon it just became routine that he scores lots of runs all the time. Occasional rare failures are catastrophic for the average Indian fan. For most audience, it didn't matter if India won or lost: as long as Sachin hit a fifty or a hundred, they're very happy. People didn't come to watch a match; they came to watch Tendulkar unfold his effulgence. Special pujas and other services were made to ensure that he plays well. It is said that when Tendulkar comes out to bat, the TV viewing population of India exceeds the population of Europe. Note that it is only to watch Sachin, not for team India. This bizzare phenomenon was observed over the past twenty years- people switch off their TVs and go about their work, or leave the stadium once Tendulkar gets out. In an effect, Tendulkar had created a monster. He was guilty of dazzling the masses with his presence which transcended national, linguistic, racial, and cultural loyalties. Revered all over the world, it is sheer madness in India when he is out in the open. He sometimes goes out on drives at 4:00 AM to avoid the public, or in disguise. In spite of all this attention, he has carried himself exceeding well. Success has never gotten to his head, and he remaines devoted to his trade, firm as ever.

There were a few things which only he can achieve: He was probably the only person to do an advertisement on shaving razors (Gillette) when he himself was not ready to shave! He will be the only cricketer to move the great mass of humanity that is India, in unison. At 36, he has lapped every award there is, and is just within striking distance of rightfully deserving the Bharat Ratna.

It has been two decades since we first saw the little master, and even after twenty years people still associate him with the innocent looking teenaged kid. And that image is impossible to disassociate from him- he is still a 36 year old baby, and gets all the fond attention from every grown-up, aged 3 and above.

His wax statue at Madame Tussauds, accolades from Don Bradman himself, the unprecedented love and fan following in India and elsewhere, two decades of being en epitome of all good values to emulate... to detail his life and the effect on others is a ginormous undertaking. With such an impact on the masses, it is impossible not to associate him with the divine. Many of Sachin's supporters refer to him just as "god". As cricinfo puts it, "...Tendulkar remains, by a distance, the most worshipped cricketer in the world".

We wish Sachin Tendulkar all the very best to continue the magic show for ever.

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