A 'Phenomenon' occurred today. But I missed witnessing it. I'm still regretting it. I would continue regretting it till eternity. In all probability, I'll never forgive myself for this. It was once-a-lifetime opportunity and I just can't stop grumping. It's one of those rarest instances which has made me abuse myself. I wouldn't have made such an issue even if I had missed an important exam because I was sound asleep on my cozy bed! Yes, may be you have guessed it by now. I missed it. Today, I missed watching the GOD showing off his enthralling, majestic 'avatar' to his devotees! Such a day wasn't decided by the position of the stars, but by the GOD himself who thought of delighting his devotees.
Yah, the GOD is actually a human after all. He's virtually a family member of every Indian family. He has probably made me smile more than any other individual. He has made me make up stories and complain of false body aches-diseases in order to skip school and get a 'darshan' of him on a 22inch screen. He has made me cry, made me bite my nails, made me say 'shlokas' as he nears a landmark, made me shout 'I'm proud to be born as an INDIAN!!', for infinite number of times.
Yes, the GOD I'm referring to is none other than Sachin (if you hadn't guessed it, then dude - either you haven't seen the GOD, which means you haven't LIVED yet! Or -well, there's no 'or' here!). The very first sentence I got to hear in my life (as told to me by my parents) was "Oh! Sachin is born. He is going to be a cricketer!". His name was one of the first words I heard. It was the surgeon or one of the nurses. But yes, as they gave me the usual clichéd hit on the bum, they said "Oh! Sachin is born. He is going to be a cricketer!". But, I missed his amazing knock of 200* today. It seems like there's a certain void in my life, because of this. A certain void that shall remain forever. GOD, forgive me :'(
I was looking forward to the 2nd match after a nail-biting finish to the 1st ODI at Jaipur. Today, I came back from my Chemistry Lab at around 4:30pm and turned on my laptop to check the scores. Sachin's score read 96*. I thought of checking my mail for a minute and then run to the hostel TV room to witness the 'avatar'! But I couldn't help myself as I got lost in those mails and sending replies to the required ones. When I checked the scores after I closed the mail, Sachin was one short of (yet another) hundred and as it turned out, had amassed 49.5% of the runs for the day. I closed my laptop and ran to the TV room. But as my luck had it, the GOD had already brought smiles on the face of his devotees. Sachin had got the run required and I had missed it by a few seconds :'(
The TV room was filled with people, bad air, infinite cheering, and of course the 'devastuti's' were ON! I found myself some space and started watching the match. In no time, Sachin crossed 150! The number of people in the room started to grow larger than Ganesha's belly, the duration of each applause longer than Hanuman's tail. It was 5:21pm by Lohit's watch when I reminded myself of the NSO class. Yes, I had to attend the football training. On any other day, I would've bunked the class and watched the match. But since the IFL (Institute Football League) opening was scheduled at 6:30pm IST (IITian Stretchable Time), I thought the coach would leave us, soon after taking the attendance. And hence, I assumed I would be back in the TV room in sometime. Such a fool I turned out to be! I changed and reached the football field by 5:35pm.
But fate had other plans. The coach, no doubt took attendance. But he did the unexpected too! Like someone had taken away his kidneys while he went to get medicated for a headache, like someone had suspended him from a government job because he slept too little in the office, like he discovered he has married a guy after 12 years of marriage and 4 kids! - he started to vent his anger on us. He made us run the entire perimeter of the football field a minimum of 15 times, followed by sprints of 100m and 15 push-ups alternately, for 5 times! On a normal day, I would've got killed. But today, it was suicide!
As I ran around the field, the loud cheers of SACHINNN-SACHIN *clap-clap-clap* filled the air. Since the field is surrounded by Hostels-2,3,4,5,8 , the sound -which would be music on usual occasions- turned out to be noisy. From every direction possible, the cheers were reaching me. But, every cheer brought a chill down my spine- and a chilly up the 'w'hole. It was anger on one side (towards the coach and myself. Myself because I took a stupid decision of attending the class). It was prayers and anxiousness, on the other hand. With every cheer, I wondered if Sachin had done the incredible feat. A feat which only he could have achieved (fittingly achieved, rather!) But unfortunately, the cheers were all hazy and not 'running' commentary. I contemplated on running away from the field and going to the TV room in my hostel. But the coach stood right in the middle of the football pitch. He had a very good view, unfortunately.
One of my friend- Jim, who was injured sat on the bench near the start line. It appeared that he was keeping a track of the scores through his mobile. So I decided to run quicker, so that I could ask him for scores as I reached the start line after each round. He said 180*, 191*, 195*, 197*,198*. The sadist returned! The coach asked Jim to return to his hostel, if he wanted to. And why wouldn’t he!? He ran (despite his injuries!) :'( I was left puzzled, stranded.
But, after a few minutes I heard the loudest cheer imaginable. Louder than a thousand saints reciting shlokas, louder than a million bells of a temple, the sound signaled the inevitable-the obvious! It seemed as if the institute buildings trembled, the wind gave a tune, the birds sang praises, the innumerable trees shook in admiration- yes, there was a response everywhere! I shouted within me. I thanked the GOD! He had removed his 'kireet' to bow to his devotees, out of affection. The GOD had raised his 'mace' to convey a big thanks to all his worshipers. The first ever double century in ODI history was here!
As I finished the class, I returned to my hostel. The hostel notice board read '24TH Feb is Sachin Day, henceforth. Sachin craxx 200*!'. I added a line 'Sachin Bhagwan hai!'. I made up for the missed action by watching the presentation ceremony 'LIVE'. I saw the highlights at 11pm and it felt awesome! The TV room was decently filled for the highlights too, would you believe that!? And trust me, after Sachin got his 200- the people(including me) clapped again! Such an innings it was- elegant, flawless, chanceless, exuberantly brilliant- a GOD'S special indeed! Just for a moment I felt that if not for the limited overs, Sachin would've batted till infinity, scored a heap of runs more- in the process of breaking his own records!
He is one of the proudest sons of the Indian soil. But yes, just like art- sports too is beyond the boundaries of religion, political divide, geographical limits. Every person who watches him play would LOVE him indeed. It makes me say 'I would prefer watch the highlights of any of his innings over any new movie on the block!'. He is a role-model, an inspiration, a true hero in every sense, a living legend. Cricket would've been incomplete without him. Yes, people say 'No player is bigger than the game'. Well, we have an exception here! And he deserves every bit of the admiration and applause. To the greatest sportsperson I have ever known, WE LOVE YOU, SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR.
ps: The match somehow reminded me of the day when I hid myself in the storeroom of our house, inside a Onida TV carton! It was India Vs South Africa in the TITAN CUP. I was in 1st grade. I was longing to see Sachin bat. It was a day-night match. But I didn’t want to miss the action, in case India batted first. So, after my dad gave me a shower, instead of going to my room and putting on the school uniform, I went to the store room! When the school van horned, everyone at home realized that I was missing, after frantically searching for me! Finally when they found me, it was too late for me to go to school :) Though I got a few beatings, I didn't mind them because I was hours away from a 'Darshan' :D
pps: Some day soon. Sachin would be the synonym for incredible, unbelievable, divine, game - in every thesaurus available! Trust me!
