What Sachin did to my generation?
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Anoop G
Dec 31, 2013, 1:42:09 AM12/31/13
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The translation of the article for which I got a reply from Sachin Tendulkar.
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What Sachin did to my generation?
(A letter to Sachin on behalf of a generation)
Dear Sachin,
From a point of life where there was no clue as to what life is all about, to a stage featured with personal, professional & social responsibilities, there has been one uniform feeling that was so prominent in the minds of millions of youth in India. It is nothing else, but the feeling called ‘Sachin Tendulkar’… This letter comes to you from one among those millions…
Let me start off my tribute to you by recalling the feelings of the 9 year old kid in me. The kid who occasionally threw his eyes to the Doordarshan channel of TV screen, where a group of uncles in white shirts & pants were playing a game with a big bat & a small ball. The days when I simply watched the game alongside my elders, without having any idea of what run rate is, how pressure builds up in it and ultimately how it becomes a game of uncertainty. Cricket was merely a game of fours, sixes, wickets and many complicated numbers for me, until you stepped into the ground at the age of 16. Right from that moment, I started following the game of cricket, with passion. I still don’t know the precise reason for that. May be yours was the only face in the cricket ground, which could connect well with the innocence of my mind then.
Within no time, a hero was born in my mind… Infact it was you who taught me first what the word ‘hero’ meant… The heroism started stretching beyond limits, and it showed it’s height when a boy was born in our family in June 1990. I persisted to name him ‘Sachin’ in your honour and I finally succeeded in that effort with pride. There will be many in my generation who have stories to tell about numerous variants of such persistence out of the influence and impact you had on them.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that the game was diffusing into my blood. I started doing all sort of things to be in front of TV, whenever you occupied the crease. It was to see your straight drives which made the white birds flew away from the Australian cricket grounds, that I started waking up early in the morning by turning on the alarm. On the street behind St.Joseph’s Boys High School, I stood in front of houses where the TV could be watched through windows, peeping & jumping continuously, to have a glimpse of your stroke play. And those anxious moments in class rooms, when I had to wait for the Interval bell, to run back & watch you again. The determination with which I finished all my home work as soon as I was back from school, to watch you in pads on the grounds of England, West Indies & South Africa, late in the evening.
I would like to highlight one key fact as to how much my generation cursed those Hindi – English news bulletins at night in Doordarshan channel, which was a barrier to our joy of watching you in form. Even today, we hate seeing the faces of those news readers, just because of the memories associated with many broken innings of yours. It was you who instilled fearlessness to climb over the roof of house even in the midnight, for turning the TV antenna whenever the signal got interrupted. It was to read about the runs piled up by you in test matches which were not telecasted by Doordarshan, that I started waiting restlessly for the newspaper boy early in the morning. And it was only because of you that the Upper Primary school student in me developed the habit of reading the entire news reports, beyond the limits of pictures & headlines published by newspapers.
While gluing your enormous number of photos in an old school note book & recording each & every score of yours in it, I was realizing that in my mind ‘Sachin’ had grown bigger in stature than the game of Cricket…
When I stepped into my spirited teenage, you came in the role of an opener for the first time. The highlights of that thunderous 82 off 49 balls still remains bright in my memory. During mid 1990’s, I started searching for houses with Cable TV connection and tried to be as humble & sweet with the people in those houses, just to make sure that I watched every exquisite shot of yours. The 1996 world cup happened just before the mighty public examination of my 10th standard & I am so proud to say that I never missed a single innings of yours even in that exam fever. It was due to sheer passion towards you that I used to wake up even at 2’O clock in the morning, so that I could finish the schedule set for my studies before the match began during the day.
As and when I got into the colorful college life, you had begun the spectacular batting display and were at the peak of your form. I have to say the fireworks with centuries in 1998, illuminates my mind even today. I can still feel the excitement I had on watching you thrashing the aussies in the ‘sandstorm’ match at Sharjah & also in the final thereafter. Who can forget the sensational commentator Tony Grieg losing his voice on screaming with every single 4 & 6 that rocketed from your bat at Sharjah. In 1999 world cup, when you joined the team hours after the cremation of your father and when you raised the bat with a plain face, after scoring that century, it was our eyes that were filled with tears.
The partnerships you built with Ganguly & Dravid are like treasures for a life time for every cricket fan. We also witnessed the change in your approach in batting, when strikers like Sehwag & Yuvaraj became part of the team. It was exactly when my generation got into employment on completion of higher studies, and started to deal with life more seriously, that you became more watchful in batting. Thereby you grew stronger, kept on conquering more and more records and became the final word of cricket. It was truly an emotional moment when Dhoni & his men gifted a world cup too to the kitty of the great man who shouldered the Indian cricket for more than two decades.
After 24 years of an amazing career when you decided to call it a day, the 9 year old kid inside me had grown up to the role of a husband & a father. But even today when I am in front of the cricket ground on my TV screen, it is the screaming of my 5 year old son that reminds me of the 24 years that passed by. The emotion called ‘Sachin Tendulkar’ remains intact…. That emotion is exactly like the way you kept your feet firm on the ground even after conquering all heights in cricket. It remains unchanged all the way. The bliss that fills in on each shot, the pain over each dismissal, the prayers for you to stick on to crease, the propensity to switch off the TV when you have to leave the crease, everything remains the same…
Sachin, we are so much indebted to you. If childhood, teenage & youth are the most beautiful stages in life, then for making those stages thoroughly joyous, we are indebted for a life time, to the spectacular sportsman & incredible gentleman in you. Wish you the very best for the rest of your life.
Warm Regards,
Anoop.G
‘Dhanya’, 27/1015
P.O.Kuthiravattom
Kozhikode – 673016
Kerala.
-------------------------------------------------------------
What Sachin did to my generation?
(A letter to Sachin on behalf of a generation)
Dear Sachin,
From a point of life where there was no clue as to what life is all about, to a stage featured with personal, professional & social responsibilities, there has been one uniform feeling that was so prominent in the minds of millions of youth in India. It is nothing else, but the feeling called ‘Sachin Tendulkar’… This letter comes to you from one among those millions…
Let me start off my tribute to you by recalling the feelings of the 9 year old kid in me. The kid who occasionally threw his eyes to the Doordarshan channel of TV screen, where a group of uncles in white shirts & pants were playing a game with a big bat & a small ball. The days when I simply watched the game alongside my elders, without having any idea of what run rate is, how pressure builds up in it and ultimately how it becomes a game of uncertainty. Cricket was merely a game of fours, sixes, wickets and many complicated numbers for me, until you stepped into the ground at the age of 16. Right from that moment, I started following the game of cricket, with passion. I still don’t know the precise reason for that. May be yours was the only face in the cricket ground, which could connect well with the innocence of my mind then.
Within no time, a hero was born in my mind… Infact it was you who taught me first what the word ‘hero’ meant… The heroism started stretching beyond limits, and it showed it’s height when a boy was born in our family in June 1990. I persisted to name him ‘Sachin’ in your honour and I finally succeeded in that effort with pride. There will be many in my generation who have stories to tell about numerous variants of such persistence out of the influence and impact you had on them.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that the game was diffusing into my blood. I started doing all sort of things to be in front of TV, whenever you occupied the crease. It was to see your straight drives which made the white birds flew away from the Australian cricket grounds, that I started waking up early in the morning by turning on the alarm. On the street behind St.Joseph’s Boys High School, I stood in front of houses where the TV could be watched through windows, peeping & jumping continuously, to have a glimpse of your stroke play. And those anxious moments in class rooms, when I had to wait for the Interval bell, to run back & watch you again. The determination with which I finished all my home work as soon as I was back from school, to watch you in pads on the grounds of England, West Indies & South Africa, late in the evening.
I would like to highlight one key fact as to how much my generation cursed those Hindi – English news bulletins at night in Doordarshan channel, which was a barrier to our joy of watching you in form. Even today, we hate seeing the faces of those news readers, just because of the memories associated with many broken innings of yours. It was you who instilled fearlessness to climb over the roof of house even in the midnight, for turning the TV antenna whenever the signal got interrupted. It was to read about the runs piled up by you in test matches which were not telecasted by Doordarshan, that I started waiting restlessly for the newspaper boy early in the morning. And it was only because of you that the Upper Primary school student in me developed the habit of reading the entire news reports, beyond the limits of pictures & headlines published by newspapers.
While gluing your enormous number of photos in an old school note book & recording each & every score of yours in it, I was realizing that in my mind ‘Sachin’ had grown bigger in stature than the game of Cricket…
When I stepped into my spirited teenage, you came in the role of an opener for the first time. The highlights of that thunderous 82 off 49 balls still remains bright in my memory. During mid 1990’s, I started searching for houses with Cable TV connection and tried to be as humble & sweet with the people in those houses, just to make sure that I watched every exquisite shot of yours. The 1996 world cup happened just before the mighty public examination of my 10th standard & I am so proud to say that I never missed a single innings of yours even in that exam fever. It was due to sheer passion towards you that I used to wake up even at 2’O clock in the morning, so that I could finish the schedule set for my studies before the match began during the day.
As and when I got into the colorful college life, you had begun the spectacular batting display and were at the peak of your form. I have to say the fireworks with centuries in 1998, illuminates my mind even today. I can still feel the excitement I had on watching you thrashing the aussies in the ‘sandstorm’ match at Sharjah & also in the final thereafter. Who can forget the sensational commentator Tony Grieg losing his voice on screaming with every single 4 & 6 that rocketed from your bat at Sharjah. In 1999 world cup, when you joined the team hours after the cremation of your father and when you raised the bat with a plain face, after scoring that century, it was our eyes that were filled with tears.
The partnerships you built with Ganguly & Dravid are like treasures for a life time for every cricket fan. We also witnessed the change in your approach in batting, when strikers like Sehwag & Yuvaraj became part of the team. It was exactly when my generation got into employment on completion of higher studies, and started to deal with life more seriously, that you became more watchful in batting. Thereby you grew stronger, kept on conquering more and more records and became the final word of cricket. It was truly an emotional moment when Dhoni & his men gifted a world cup too to the kitty of the great man who shouldered the Indian cricket for more than two decades.
After 24 years of an amazing career when you decided to call it a day, the 9 year old kid inside me had grown up to the role of a husband & a father. But even today when I am in front of the cricket ground on my TV screen, it is the screaming of my 5 year old son that reminds me of the 24 years that passed by. The emotion called ‘Sachin Tendulkar’ remains intact…. That emotion is exactly like the way you kept your feet firm on the ground even after conquering all heights in cricket. It remains unchanged all the way. The bliss that fills in on each shot, the pain over each dismissal, the prayers for you to stick on to crease, the propensity to switch off the TV when you have to leave the crease, everything remains the same…
Sachin, we are so much indebted to you. If childhood, teenage & youth are the most beautiful stages in life, then for making those stages thoroughly joyous, we are indebted for a life time, to the spectacular sportsman & incredible gentleman in you. Wish you the very best for the rest of your life.
Warm Regards,
Anoop.G
‘Dhanya’, 27/1015
P.O.Kuthiravattom
Kozhikode – 673016
Kerala.
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