Ok,
the festivity may have already come to an end for me. India has built
up a sizable lead. In all probability we are going to win by an innings.
I would not want Sachin to come back and bat. This was good, if not
better. Yes, I would have loved to see a century from the Master. But
that's ok. It doesn't matter. Even if he had gone for a duck or scored a
century or even a double century, we would always want more from him.
We can never get enough of this man.
We have seen so many play
this beautiful game. Many rise up to a level attained by only a few. And
each time such a player exits from the game, we feel sad. But him? For
Sachin it just doesn't stop at being sad and disappointed. It goes
beyond that. We mourn. For we don't just love him. We adore him. We
worship him. When he walked back to the pavilion today, it was not just
an end of an era. It was end of something much more beautiful. The sweet
memories of our childhood with which most Indians grew up with. He was
walking away with a part of us.
And I can't identify just a
thing or two that I will miss the most. That cover drive or the square
cut. That paddle sweep or the upper cut. The way he comes down the pitch
to loft the ball straight over the bowler's head for a six or the way
he comes on to the front foot to hit that straight drive. When he is in
full flow, it's like a poetry in motion. Beautiful, elegant yet
destructive. And when he scores a century, the feeling is described best
only by the word 'Euphoria'. Or may be just him standing on the
non-striker's end, leaning on his bat, his left arm on his hips. Like I
read somewhere, 'Will we ever see such a sight again?'
No
matter how much I try, I can't put all that I feel into words. Words
fail us sometimes. And I'm happy that it does so, right now. What can we
mere mortals, who can't handle the expectations of few people and feel
pressurised say about a man who has handled the expectations of nearly a
billion people for over 2 decades. Succeeding more often than not. What
can we mere mortals, most of us who don't even have a single
achievement to talk about say about a man who owns almost all the major
records of the sport. What will we mere mortals, whose entire lives have
not influenced more than a few hundreds if not thousands, talk about a
man whose 24yrs career has touched so many people that we can't even
imagine. He transcends normalcy. And in that transcendence, he became
the titular 'God'.
For all that joy he has given us, we have nothing but #ThankyouSachin
in return. And he accepts it gratefully. Such is his humility. And when
I go to sleep tonight, I know cricket will not be the same for me and
million others like me from tomorrow. For I know, from now, whenever
India plays I will not be able to ask 'How much did Sachin Tendulkar
score?'. But I will reminisce about all the sweet memories and cherish
them. And indulge in the nostalgia with the help of youtube videos and
television replays.
And once again, #ThankyouSachin.!!
