For Indians young and old, Sachin Tendulkar inspires unrivalled devotion and brings a sense of happiness. As Tendulkar celebrates his 47th birthday today, Omkar Paranjape discusses various verses of the legend.
In a country with 18 official languages, simmering religious tensions, and 1.3 billion people, cricket remains one of the only common bonds. When Indians talk about cricket, they inevitably talk about Tendulkar in the same breath. My first real Tendulkar memory is the sight of him demolishing the Australian bowling in 1998 at Sharjah.
The first impressions
On November 16, 2013, Wankhede Stadium was packed to the rafters and shedding collective tears as the legend played the final day of his illustrious international career. That match coincided as the first-ever Test series of my career as a sports journalist. Millions of Indians were glued to their television sets on this day in 2013 as Sachin Tendulkar bid goodbye to cricket.
This is the story of how I met my sports idol. Sometimes I don’t believe it - maybe it was just a dream, and I have to look at the picture to convince myself that this really happened.
But as Sachin walked in the corridors of the press-box at the Wankhede Stadium, I spontaneously stuck my hand out to shake his hand and whispered great knock champ! Next few moments were like dream-reel as he acknowledged my handshake and thanked me.
Next minute or two, he was talking about his dismissal, which fell on deaf ears as I was awestruck of what had just happened!
Sachin was about to retire from cricket in a couple of days. Still, a whole generation of people like me will have the privilege and honour of telling others that we lived during the times that Sachin Tendulkar played cricket.
November 15, 2018
A cool winter morning in Pune with the sun peeping out.
When you have Sachin Tendulkar visiting a school to kickstart a coaching camp, you know the size of the crowds you are expecting.
I said to myself “Dear lord I can’t miss this, the great man is going to be in my hometown, and I need to be at my best come what may! ”
I patiently waited for the event to get over and the crowd to recede. After almost fi ve-odd hours, I got a chance to ask a few questions to the master himself!! I was completely tongue-tied at this point. Very lamely, I muttered something about what a big fan of his I was and thanked him for the joy he had bought to so many of us.
All this while, I’d almost forgotten that I was out on an assignment to cover the camp for his Cricket Academy.
One of my friends rightly said, “There’s a difference between seeing and meeting”. On previous occasions, I had seen Sachin and this time, I had actually met him. Even though it lasted for only a few minutes; I will cherish it till my last breath.
Thank you for the memories, Sachin!
