The Unfulfilled Dreams of a Legend

Its probably sheer coincidence that I picked this day to write about India's greatest beacon of hope in the last 20 years. Another epic was scripted yesterday, the entire nation waltzed to the tune of its favorite son. Together we hoped and together we cringed in the pain of defeat. This is the story of Sachin Tendulkar - the Little Master who has tirelessly tried for 2 decades to realize the hopes and dreams of this cricket crazy country. This is in Sachin's honor - a tribute to what he has achieved and a logical run down of those countless near misses when a nation cried in agony along with him.

Writing about Sachin is quite a daunting task purely because the man's achievements are enormous. My cricket watching days and Sachin's playing career have run in parallel. Like any cricket buff, I have followed the fortunes of our team religiously and faithfully for many, many years now. My family and friends pretty much know that in all these years, I have been one of Sachin's strongest critics. Its quite strange because secretly I have admired and prayed for his success but he has never been on my list of favorite cricketers. Maybe because I have always had a liking for the less talented, less gifted players who went on to become giants in the game - the likes of Steve Waugh, Rahul Dravid and Wasim Akram. Those were my List A cricketers for their passion, extreme hard work and mental fortitude. They achieved more than what they were destined for purely by dint of their supreme commitment and the one factor that made me go gaga over them was their ability to cross the finish line. This has been the one major point that I have always used whenever an impromptu debate springs up on who is better - Sachin or Lara or Ponting.

Being a critique of Sachin, its quite important for me to do my homework properly, else my fellow cricket crazy fanatics would shred me apart for finding faults in their hero. First, a look at Sachin's Test Match near misses and failures. In all the below instances its also true that other batsmen in the Indian team were at fault as well. But somehow the general feeling is that Tendulkar with his god gifted talent and genius should have taken it on him to see the team through.

- 1997, India vs West Indies, Barbados: One of the most horrendous performances as a team. With the 5 match series played on dead pitches the Barbados track was the only hope for a result. An uneven pitch ensured that both teams struggled to find the runs and on the final day India had to make a modest 120 for a series clinching victory. Sachin batted poorly against the pace attack led by Walsh and seeing him struggle on the minefield sent panic waves through the rest of the Indian batting. A collapse ensued and Sachin's men were all out for a paltry 81. Tendulkar was a master of conditions and had he stayed at the wicket and shown the other guys how to negotiate the attack and the wicket, a series victory in the Carribean was there for the taking.

- 1999, India vs Pakistan, Chennai : Who can ever forget this game. A classic test match that see sawed either way all through till the very end. On the last day with India needing a 250+ score (271) it all seemed lost as the top order comprising Dravid, Ganguly and Azhar fell quickly. Sachin carried on in determined fashion slowly eating away at the score in the company of Nayan Mongia. With about 60 odd runs to get Mongia played the most horrendous shot to a Wasim Akram delivery that swung things in Pakistan's favor. But as Akram later pointed they knew that until Tendulkar was around India were always ahead. Sachin's back started giving away and under extreme pain after a colossal century with just 16 runs to get, the master played a reckless shot against Saqlain. The back pain had restricted Sachin's movements and the shot was definitely ill timed. Pakistan saw the opening and applied immense pressure on India's tail who were shell shocked by Sachin's dismissal and meekly surrendered the game to Pakistan. Sachin was seen in tears and in pain in the dressing room. The anguish kept him away from the presentation ceremony and the victory lap by Akram's men must have pierced his heart. India shared the pain and cherished the heroic knock.

- 2003, India vs Australia, Sydney : A poor run all through the series meant that Sachin had to stand up and deliver in the country that loved to watch him play. He cut out all the risk elements in his game and the first 150 runs were all scored off bad deliveries on the leg side. India was on the threshold of a possible series victory on Australian soil. Batting first we scored 705 but consumed far too much time in the game. Most of it was due to Sachin's slow progress and this hurt on the final day when India did not have enough time or overs in the game with 7 Aussie wickets down. When the occasion demanded an attacking, aggressive innings to seal the deal for India, Tendulkar played safe and so did his team.

- 2006, India vs England, Mumbai: India were 1-0 up in the series with the final match at Mumbai. From the outset India were on the backfoot as they went in with 5 bowlers and a batsman short. The decision hurt on the final day as India were up chasing a score of 300 plus. With Sehwag & Dravid gone early, Sachin had to steer his team to the safety of a draw to ensure a series victory. Instead of dominating against a novice spinner like Shaun Udal, Sachin gave him too much respect and went into his shell. When the frustration got to him and he tried to clear Udal out of the ground he ended up spooning a simple catch. Udal went on to pick up another 4 wickets as the Indian batsmen suddenly found his deliveries unplayable. Again an opportunity to play a match saving knock was missed and the struggles against a modest Udal sent shock waves through the rest of the batting.

- 2007, India vs South Africa, Cape Town: The 3 test series was tied 1-1 and the Cape Town wicket was a pure subcontinental track. Jaffer and Karthik played beautifully on Day 1 and India were in a mighty strong position dictating the game in their 2nd innings as they looked set to post a big target for the Africans. Enter Sachin Tendulkar at the fall of the 2nd wicket. And what followed was a 2 hour crawl where the big daddies of Indian batting, Sachin & Dravid, went into a completely defensive mould. Runs came in trickles and the legends made it seem like there were demons in the pitch. When Sachin eventually tried a forcing shot it did not work and as was the case in Barbados his struggles filled the rest of the batsmen with negative thoughts about the wicket. India set a below par score of 211 for the Proteas to chase and they hunted it down with ease. A series victory in South Africa had gone abegging and the turning point was the 2 hour crawl from Sachin before tea on the 4th day. When he could have taken the game away he frittered the opportunity.

From a test match perspective those are the 5 that readily come to mind. Two of them were about setting up totals, two others were targets being chased down and the final one was a match saving situation. The important thing here is the value of Tendulkar's wicket for the opposition. And the manner in which he went about his innings had a big say on the temperament of the rest of the batting line up. Such is the genius and class of Tendulkar that the others in the team look up to him for answers. If he plays in an attacking mode, very often the rest of the batting sees that as an indication to go on the rampage. His psyching of both his own mates and the opposition bowlers and fielders means that his wicket is probably the most prized one in international cricket. No wonder you see young fast bowlers howling and celebrating in merriment when they happen to pick up his wicket. Sachin's failures in those big games meant that India did not finish up with the result they wanted. Over a period of time this has hurt even the man himself who once acknowledged his lack of success in 4th innings of test matches on a television interview .

In India, people forget the test matches as soon as our team notches up a few victories in the one day game or more recently T20 games. Cant blame our people though, Sachin is the master of the one day game with 45 centuries and over 91 fifties to his name in 400 odd games. A staggering record that will probably stand for ever since it will take another player beginning his career at the age of 16 and going on till 36 to surpass this mountain of a record. Sachin has played some blinders at the top of the batting line up ever since he was sent to open the batting in NZ back in 1994. Terrific match winning innings have blown the opposition away and I have watched almost all of his 87 international hundreds. Tendulkar''s magic in the ODI game is to set up winning totals while batting first. This he has done with great aplomb and has been near flawless. The toughest part in the ODI game is to chase tall scores and to chase them down in big, pressure games. On this count here are a few of the near misses that come to mind...

- 1996, India vs Australia, World Cup, Mumbai: A fantastic knock from Mark Waugh and some poor bowling by India resulted in a target of 250 plus, a tough proposition in the ODI game back then. India's reply began in disastrous fashion with Azhar, Jadeja and Kambli all going down cheaply. Sachin blasted his way through to 90 exquisite runs in real quick time. The Aussies were getting a pasting at the hands of the Little Master. Just the perfect time to shift gears and enter into accumulation mode considering that the rest of the batting was very very feeble. No Yuvraj and Dhoni in those days. A sudden rush of blood made Sachin go down the wicket and he was stumped off a wide delivery from Mark Waugh. Credit to Waugh for luring our genius into that false stroke. But the match turned on its head as Australia clawed their back and put pressure on the rest of the line up. With no Sachin around to trouble them with sixes and fours, the bowlers found their length again and India went down by 16 runs.

- 2003, India vs Australia, World Cup Final, Johanessburg: An eminently forgettable day for all Indian fans. I was so upset at the end of the first half that I tore down all the posters in my room that I had carefully collected for 10 years. Imagine Sachin's disappointment at the end of the game when he was declared Man of the Series. India bowled shabbily, stung by the enormity of the occasion and ended up giving 359 runs. When it was our turn to bat all eyes were on Sachin to guide the chase and boy he really did shock us with that ill timed pull off a perfect McGrath delivery. 350 to get and Sachin Tendulkar was out of the equation. Done deal, match sealed - the rest of the game was just a mere formality and India went down again to Australia who have hurt us quite badly in the ODI game. Big match was when our big player needed to fire and our little master knew he had let the country down.

- 2004, India vs Pakistan, Karachi: Again a 300 plus score and a master class from Sachin. 141 he scored in double quick time and took India to the brink of victory. From that stage on Sachin just needed to guide Yuvraj & Kaif to take us home. Instead he chose to dominate and was dismissed against the run of play. India crumbled after his dismissal, a malaise by now that everyone was familiar with. Get Sachin out and the rest will follow him to the pavilion. A heart breaking loss by just 13 runs. A distraught Sachin, was visibly upset with his colleagues for not putting one past the old rival. India eventually won that away series on the back of a Laxman classic at Lahore.

- 2009, India vs Australia, Hyderabad: This was the innings of a lifetime from our maestro. The knock that made me sit and write this piece. A classic in every sense of the word. Chasing 351, Sachin's 175 took India to within 18 runs of victory. Just 18 required from 19 balls and a cheeky shot was unnecessarily attempted. Misbah ul Haq's failed attempt should have been in the minds of all Indians when Sachin's feeble shot found the hands of an Aussie fielder. Tragedy had struck. His other mates were panic stricken and did the wierdest things possible as India handed victory to Australia. As I watched Tendulkar speak at the presentation, my heart went out to him. I could see the pain written all over his face. Even after 20 years in the game he had'nt mastered the final hurdle. The funny thing is he still has chances up his sleeve but they are running out pretty quickly.

Bu no means do all the above examples cast a shadow over the number of brilliant innings that he has played. The 155 in the Madras Test against his favorite opponents Australia, the 95 in the World Cup game against Pakistan, the twin typhoons in Sharjah in 1998, the classic unbeaten century down under to help India win the CB series in 2008, the 100 against England in the 4th innings of the Madras test and the 195 at Headingley to help India win a famous match in 2002 are just a few of the most sublime knocks from our very own champion. Somehow even after 88 international centuries and over 29000 runs there is still a sense of incompleteness in Sachin's CV of achievements. As an ardent follower of the game and as a Sachin critique cum fan, I thought I should list them down...

1. Test series victory in Australia. Maybe that chance is gone. 2008 was an opportunity missed
2. Test series victory in South Africa. India will have that chance next year against a tough SA unit
3. Match winning century in a major cup final. He did that in the CB series in 2008. Expecting such encores.
4. Match winning century in the 4th innings of a test match. This also has a tick. England in Chennai, 2008. Expecting a few more before he winds down his test career.
   

The biggest of them all - A WORLD CUP VICTORY. This is Sachin's unfulfilled dream. He came close to it in 2003 but its been six years now and his final chance seems like the 2011 World Cup in India. In front of his home crowd, Tendulkar will be charged up and a major challenge will be to keep himself fit till then. At 36 he is still playing his best cricket and churning out some outstanding knocks. His contemporary batting giant in this era, Ricky Ponting has 3 world cup titles and how dearly Sachin would exchange a few of his batting records for one of those World Cup medals. It remains his most cherished dream and its also the dream of a billion cricket fans in India. To see him go out on a high with a World Cup in his hands would be the most fitting tribute that the current generation of Indian cricketers can give him. He dreamed of it in 1983 when he saw Kapil's men lift the title and today we share that dream with him. Our Little Master deserves it and even his staunchest critic will wish and pray secretly that he achieves that laurel. Among those will be me, praying that India's Kohinoor, the jewel in our crown, the one man after Gandhi who unites a whole nation together, realizes his boyhood dream.

The World is a small place indeed!!!!

Every day that we spend in our lives is filled with so many little stories, nice feel good moments and a few difficult ones. All these together in their many different layers is what our daily life is all about. A lot of times I wish I had one of these really nice high end phones through which I could do instant blogging and pen down my thoughts, just to make sure I did'nt  lose the joy of capturing that fleeting moment. It was one such wonderfully scripted moment last week that has made me sit down, recollect and write this piece. This little incident from last week has done me a huge favour and has served as a great reminder to the sweet surprises that life always has in store for us. Read on..

Ever since I came back from my trip to the US in September last year, I have found it very difficult to accept a certain fact regarding which I would'nt elaborate further. Too many random thoughts and a sense of failure have bogged me down from getting myself fully involved with the people and activities around me. My daily life started following a rather depressing pattern where I would converse very little with folks at home, head straight to work, spend long hours at my desk, drive home in the dead of the night and sit awake till an ungodly hour thinking about why something very simple and true that I wanted did not happen. With every passing day, the frustration and the feeling of anger towards everything around me increased. It was in these tough times that I started finding some joy during my late night drive back home. 

Am a big music lover and its almost impossible for me to drive my car without listening to some quality music. I have a lot of numbers downloaded and burnt on to discs that I hear frequently. Radio has never been an option for me, but one night while driving back my CD system in the car had a snag and the same song kept on playing in loop. Of course thats a pretty bugging thing to be happening, so I switched over to the FM stations. The only station whose frequency I readily recollected was Radio Mirchi's 98.3. It was about 11:20 odd in the night I guess and I heard this very sweet and cheerful voice that I found catchy for some reason or the other. The voice had a little thread of familiarity to it but it was such a momentary thought that I just let it skip through. The show was called Kadhala Kadhala and the RJ went by the name of Dr.Love. 

It was interesting to hear her talk about all the little things that people in love faced very often. Her primary job, apart from playing songs was to act as a counsellor for couples who faced minor squabbles in their relationship and needed someone to talk to. She also varied the mood of the program everyday. If one day was about counselling, the next day she would play matchmaker and the next day interview a celebrity guest.  As I kept hearing her everyday, I realized that she was extremely good at what she was doing and I sure developed a genuine liking for the show and the way it was being conducted. It almost became a habit for me to get in my car and quickly tune into her show. In between all the songs and ads on the show I would probably hear about 10 mins of her by the time I reached home. 

Once I got back home it was back to the usual surfing on the internet and being all by myself. It was during one such night that I felt this instinct within me that said - 'There is definitely something remarkably familiar about Dr.Love's voice'. I had no clue what it was though. Could'nt recollect any friend or person I had met who had actually gone on and become an RJ. So I just thought it was something I felt because I was listening to her daily for 4 months. The next night when I got online, the first thing that I searched on Google was Radio Mirchi Chennai. Something told me to go figure out who she was and I wanted an answer to that mystery hidden somewhere in my brain. I got through to the website pretty comfortably and it had this flash content on it that showed you a few seconds of each RJ and the show they hosted on air.

One of the faces that I recognised from the first few, was Siva -  the Chennai 28 hero. I had asbsolutely no idea that the guy was an RJ on Mirchi. Then it was Dr.Love and boy in one small second it all came right in front of my eyes. One whole bunch of memories from my days as a kid came rushing through. I instantly recognised her face and her name as well. She had never revealed her name on air during the show but it was'nt a mystery to me any longer. This was ShivShankari, the girl I knew from my school days in St.John's Besant Nagar. I was like wow!!!! It all made sense to me, that hunch that I heard her voice before. I was honestly very surprised how I could remember someone from 15 years ago by their voice. To me it was absolutely astounding. 

My memories of Shivshankari were all about dance. She and her friend had a great interest in it from very early on in school and their talent was there for all to see. Even when she was just in her grade 6, she peformed solo during the 10th year celebration of the school. It was a marvellous performance that just blew me away. It sure did leave a big impact on me, since it was the first thought that came to mind when I saw her picture. I also recollected having talked to her but those memories were very vague. After finding her on the Radio Mirchi site, my next task was to get in touch with her and tell her about all of this. The only option for me was to look into Orkut. I thought maybe she had a profile or a community or something that could give me some leads. It was just a shot in the dark.

But well well, I was lucky again. I first found a community for her and then I actually figured out that she was one of the members. Her profile had her picture, but I was'nt sure if it was really her. So I checked her scrapbook and I found the usual scraps from listeners. It was then that I noticed this mutual friend connection that Orkut offers. I had my classmate from school, Anu on it and thats when I realized that this was surely a genuine profile. I decided to leave Shiv a scrap, narrating in about 5-6 lines a short version of this story. Of course, I had no idea if she remembered me, since I was this quiet, shy guy back in the school days.

In about 3 days, Shiv responded to my scrap and to me it was such a great surprise. Not only did she remember me but she also told me about a hilarious conversation that we had from our grade 5 days. We had shared a bench back then and she told me how I had told her the story of my name(Kalyanaraman - shortened to Kalyan). I had also told her not to tell other folks in class fearing they would start pulling my leg big time. I was totally stunned that she actually still had that fresh in mind. It kind of made sense to me why her voice seemed so familiar - I probably shared a bench with her for an entire year. Her reply told me she was very excited about the whole thing. One of the requests I had made to her in my scrap was to narrate the story of how I found her on air if she found it equally intriguing.

The following Monday, I tuned in to her show just at the stroke of 11 with an air of expectancy. And again I was spot on. She spoke about it beautifully in her own inimitable style. Talked about how excited she was at finding an old friend and commended me for readily getting in touch with her. She also urged her listeners to go ahead and reach out to their long lost friends from school. At the end of it, she called out my name and then played out a song. It was one of the best moments that I can truly think of. I looked back at the whole sequence of events and it was quite miraculous. It was a very genuine moment of happiness for me. To be able to recognize a friend from 15 years ago through a radio show and then get in touch was a remarkable thing indeed.

Since that event happened about 2 weeks back, we have exchanged a couple of emails and have promised to catch up sometime considering we live in the same part of the city. Our work keeps us pretty much busy but we sure will stay in touch. The big lesson for me from the whole thing was that the most repeated cliche 'The world is a small place'  is indeed very true. Whoever came up with that phrase was a real genius and he must have felt exactly the same way as I did when he said that. Life is about surprises and you never know when the next one is around the corner. The key thing is to take great joy from these little moments. This one was fantastic and am surely gonna treasure this for a long, long time.