Growing up with God

Words are not enough

May be the timing is not right? When the whole world which was urging "you know who" to retire a day earlier, have started hitting the post button from their drafts thanking him for the memories... Should I too join the bandwagon?? May be once everyone is back to the senses on their hypocrisy, I should have started this..  But let it be.. Even He got his timing wrong at times. And I am just another man!

There are some things you know will never change.. Programmes in Podhigai TV, public and civil apathy in India, BSNL broadband connectivity playing hide and seek when you are online etc. In this list was Him creating the equivalent of a 99.94 in ODIs.

When the news first broke out via sms, I plunged headlong into grief.. Just to imagine that I wont be seeing God striding out to open the batting for the Men in Blue..  Still has me in a daze.. I immediately went online and started reliving his innings via scorecards on cricinfo.. What was his last ball in ODIs? What was his last ODI score, how get got out.. My own memories of seeing him @ MAC in the World Cup.

Next was the newspapers the next day. Clinging on to each and everyword  that evoked nostalgia about The God.. I first remember cricket as a match on TV. The day we got a Telephone in my home was an India vs SL World Cup match in 1996. I was in middle school.. Sachin's Century.. The famous Jingle "Sachin aayare bhaiya..". Once I started  following cricket, I was in love with The Superman from India. His pleasant nature in presentations, his focus on the field made him a larger than life role model.. Then came the moment.. For Indians, Desert storm has got nothing to do with geographies.. It represents the blade screaming MRF. Though I could not see the match, once I read it in newspapers, I knew it was a superhuman effort. Fortunately I got an action replay in the final. I need to thank Tony Greig capturing the appropriate mood and making it a timeless classic. You just cannot forget "Its gone wayyye over the stands!!" chant, can you??

Lest you forget, The way he brought Henry Olonga back to the earth... Coming down the ground and late cutting Paul Strang fine of third man.. Those arms having bat and a helmet instead of a conch and a discus. Eye towards the sky... I came to live through him. I still regret not being able to see His hundred for MCC XI as a captain.

My earliest recallable hobby of collecting pics from newspapers and sticking it on a book was born there.
Love became devotion.

The power to make a billion smile and change the mood of the country was remote controlled by one man.

Then comes the 1999 World Cup, Ganguly-Dravid-Taunton Classic and the lump in the throad when he scored another hundred against Kenya. When he looked at the sky, we had a lump in the throat..

I was changing school for my 7th standard.

When he scored a 137 in Chepauk and yet we lost, I had tears brimming in my eyes. Here is one man battling back spasms and feeding you the match and another 10 men like a 6 month old swishing hands on a cricket field wasting his effort.

His effort in Australia in 1999-00. One man vs 11 Australians. 0-3. World's finest art has to come with a melancholic strain, does it?

His Triple strike in THE Greatest test of all time.. How easily it slips to the backseat in our minds?

2003 World Cup.. After the effigy burning, One superman took it upon himself to make amends and inspire another 10 more to the final.. In the space of a month, he changed public mood to the other extreme.

I was changing schools for my 11th standard.

2004-05 series in Aus... The 241 showed us what discipline is.. When you need to discipline your self, I can challenge you, there is no better inspiration!!

I had finished my schooling and joined college.

A rough patch in 2005-06, tennis elbow, I was one of the billion who were used to seeing him superhuman that we just couldnt accept him as a mortal and shamelessly wanted him to retire. The 141 on him comeback match against WI gave me a slap on my cheek and said that God is one who need not prove himself to  our pointless rationalism. Devotee again.

He was back and How...  What a 3 years that was... (Forget that 2007 WC) 2008 series in Aus.. A classic in Perth. Amends for the Sydney test in ODIs. CB Series finals. 117 & 91.. Lest you forget. He took it upon himself to win the Cup. Three bullets against Lee. Upper cut against Mitchell Johnson.. Arrival of a young squad had reinvigorated God.

College over by 2008

Another great 2009. A day before CA final exam was the 175 which brought me back to 90s again. 19 from 18 and these ******s couldnt do it for Him... Couldnt get the sadness out of it for 2 days.

Cleared my Professional Exams

After all the years of Watching him on TV, decided to see the God in IPL. The date was Apr 6, 2010. Informed of the decision to watch the match almost a fortnight in advance in office so that I wont be disturbed. Sadly enough, I am to go outstation on 30th March and hopefully would be back by 4th or 5th. I had planned even if it took 7th, I would catch a 3 hr bus journey back to city and be back the next morning. I was never going to miss it unless by some bad stroke of luck.. Unfortunately, I had that stroke. Review was to be conducted on 6th and I would be returning by night. I was so angry and frustrated at life that day that it still ranks among my top 3 bad days in life. I was never going to forgive myself. I still dont. I was lucky to have my colleague who was n times more responsible than myself that the job was completed without hiccups. Everything from Apr 4 to Apr 6 was a haze. But I remember coming home to Him speaking on the presentation. The match was a classic.

I was only happy when God dragged his team to finals against CSK that year just as he had done with India. That was one rare match, I didnt bother CSK losing.

Joined employment
Determined to see him, especially in the WC, tried all avenues but the ticket was sold out days before the match.. Where there is desperation, there is a solution. Just a couple of days before the match, online booking was opened for the match and I jumped at it.. 2k+ tax was never going to stop me this time. Finally got to hear the Chant "Sachinnn Sachin" - Goosebumps. A short while it lasted (2 balls to be exact -  A golden flick and a caught behind) that was enough to provide me with a lifetime experience.

IPL presented me another opportunity but his team wasnt schedule to visit Chennai in 2011 edition. But they had a match in Bangalore. I was neither going to miss him. Only a fifty or more would quench my thirst! April 13, 2011. Bunking office on health pretext, visited Bangalore for the match. God answered my prayers. An unbeaten 55 off 46. All shots in his book unfurled. Pulls, Hooks, Cuts, Slogs, drive over the bowler's head, coverdrives, flicks, sweeps, one legged swipe and the Straight Drive!!! My salvation was attained.. On returning back to office, another experience to laugh about over the years was awaiting me.

Now, One thing yet to see was a six from his blade. That happened in IPL 2012. Though He retired hurt in that match, a divine and cover drive & another loft over the extra cover boundary.. I was consumed. I knew it. Felt as if my bucket list has been kicked up..

I shifted jobs.. Still growing up with Him.....

Just as another die harder will expect, despite his serious lack of form, I believed he could make it to 2015 WC in Australia.  Thats when the thunderbolt struck. When your constant companion is never available again, it hurts. Gives .. for lack of a better word, "Grief". But brings out the value in the memories gathered. The phrase"India score enna? Sachin evlo?" wont be heard in ODIs now and in Tests possibly another year later.

To savour it while it lasts. After all when we grow old,not money or relatives, but Memories are our only companions.. To live up to one billion aspirations in one life.. That is what you are all about!!

Thanks Sachin.. You have meant a lot to me!!  Praying to Father Time that we catch up during India-Australia Tests in March!!
Respect!