The wait, the burden and the joy of Sachin

by Binoo K. John For Sachin it was just a jab. An unhurried single cantered across 22 yards. A nation erupted as if it was a war won or the wounds of many years healed in one moment. For the cricketing world it was a not just a milestone it was the canonization of a man who did so much for the game and its spread to many corners of the world. In the Mirpur stadium where that single was run and Sachin reached his 100th hundred the roar was as if that century belonged to that small country which had always appropriated Indian cricketing icons and thus build up the game there. They were all saying thank you to a small man who looked so much a giant. [caption id=“attachment_247634” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Tendulkar today scored his 100th century. AFP”]  [/caption] One more century may be no big deal for Sachin but the cricketing world so much wanted it that it became a toil, a burden. After two centuries in the world Cup last year brought him to 99 centuries and since then he played as if the burden was unbearable and he would crumble. On many occasions he came close to it but then fell. The hundredth century became a nation’s burden. Till today, on the day of the budget, when the entire country was number crunching and talking about crores of rupees, one small hundred jumped to the top. Pranab Mukherjee will be so grateful. There is nothing that the cricketing world does not know about Sachin and his achievements. We hungered for his many centuries. Every time he took his helmet off and kissed the national tricolour, pasted there, it was not just a swell of pride but also a big one for nationhood. The country forgot its many divisions and stood up as one. He became in many ways what the country couldn’t achieve. “Don’t stop chasing your dreams. Dreams do come true,” he said at the end of the innings at Mirpur. That is the lasting lesson he taught many generation of Indian youngsters. A sportsman became a national hero when he transcends many things : he transcends the immediate, he transcends boundaries, he looks at looming clouds but still does not give up, he see a hurdle and still runs to jump over, he straddles many worlds at the same time. These are lessons Sachin taught a nation bereft of many idols they could fashion themselves after. For the last two decades and more the nation talked of him when the days were dark and found joy. Only last week, a grateful India bid a sad goodbye to one of its greatest cricketers Rahul Dravid when he retired. All said, it is difficult to let a hero walk away. Now out of the low, has risen Tendulkar to remind us that the golden era of Indian sports is still glowing. How much Sachin would have loved to have Dravid with him out there and maybe recollect all their heroics. There are many stats to show that in games that Sachin scored big, India lost. There are stats to show that he slowed down considerably over the years. The inference was that he played for himself. All that looks like so much rubbish now as one man stands at the pinnacle of a great achievement and with him a nation. So in pantheon of sports where does Sachin stand? Does he get a place by the side of NBA star Magic Johnson, long jumper Bob Beamon, sprinter and long jumper Carl Lewis (9 Olympic golds), Diego Maradona, cyclist Lance Armstrong, newer stars like Lionel Messi and Usain Bolt? In the immortality stakes where will he stand? Will his name be mentioned in whispers many years hence? For India, Sachin now means more than the sport itself. He was named after music composer Sachin Dev Burman. But all over India now there are a million young Sachins, named by their parents in the blissful hope that some day greatness might summon their sons too. In the film ‘Taxi No 9211’, when the brilliant Nana Patekar, who plays a taxi driver, is leaving home and sees his son fielding while playing gully cricket. He grabs the bat from the batsman and gruffly tells his son start batting. “Sachin Tendulkar ban, Mohammed Kaif nahin banne ka (Become Sachin Tendulkar not Mohammed Kaif)” he tells his son as parting advice, his voice gruff with anger and emotion. And that is what millions of Indians will tell their children many years from now.