The Day India was Completely Orphaned

It feels that light has been taken out of our lives. A billion heartbeats have stopped! The nation has come to a standstill! There is a tinge of sadness. Never have so many Indians collectively had wetter eyes! The streets are deserted, the news channel TRPs are at an all time high, the social media is flooded with messages of gratitude, the recent Friday cinema releases have crashed at the box-office. Today is a historic day - in the lives of us as Indians and for the sporting world at large. For today, the greatest of them all bid farewell to what he did for the last 24 years, day in and day out, coming out with the same level of intensity, determination and passion, for today Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar bid adieu to cricket! My first memories of Tendulkar in Indian colours take me back to the 27th of March, 1994 at Eden Park in Auckland when he was sent out to open the innings for India. He made instant headlines as he tore into the Kiwi attack of Danny Morrison, Chris Pringle and Gavin Larsen and smashed them to all corners of the park. His 49 ball 82 was the most breathtaking ODI knock witnessed at the time - an innings as much of sublime timing as of total carnage. At that moment, the world knew that the Gods were with Tendulkar, that he was exceptionally talented and gifted and was destined for Greatness. I still remember I had put an alarm for 2:30 am (start time of the match) but ended waking up all night! Sachin has conquered almost all the challenges and peaks and broken an innumerable number of batting records, set unprecedented standards of batsmanship, created and re-created history and sent leading statisticians, cricket pundits and fans astonished and bewildered with his mastery and craft. 'Greatness' is often a misused and a very loosely used term in sporting parlance. To be truly 'Great' not only does a batsman need to have the numbers and the statistics but it is also essential and paramount how he gets those runs. A Roger Federer would not be the artist he was if not for that sublime forehand and that elegant backhand, a Brian Lara would not be the genius he was if he did not have that high back-lift, a Vivian Richards would not have been a Sir Viv Richards if he did not possess that swagger, a Ricky Ponting would not have been half as ruthless a batsman he was if not for his devastating pull and a Shane Warne would not have been a patch of the legend he was if not for the poetry and romance in his action! Similarly, there are some shots which set apart Sachin Tendulkar - he patented the straight drive and the cover drive - it was like Leonardo da Vinci painting the Mona Lisa time and again, bettering his efforts on each occasion! Coupled with this are his mind-boggling stats and that is the stuff Legends are made of and that is what truly defines a 'GREAT'! The other astonishing thing is the way the Little Master has carried himself all through these years - with dignity and respect and grace, upholding the highest standards of morality. The only aggression he has shown has been with the bat, the only wrath he has unleashed has been met by the ball! Tendulkar has performed through technological revolutions, wars and riots. He has been synonymous with India's rise as a major global world power. I still remember being caught (by my teacher) listening to cricket commentary in class on a transistor during my school days. From the transistor to Doordarshan to Cable to Digital - Tendulkar stood tall and did justice to all the mediums who have supported him, dissected him, analysed him and sometimes, but rarely, criticised him! He had become a household name across the length and breadth of the country. He was the batsman a coach wanted his pupils to be, he was the son a father wanted his boy to be, he was the face the commercials wanted to see and he was the hero the nation wanted to be. The little master carried with him the burden of a billion aspirations every time he went out to bat and more often than not, he did not disappoint and came out with aplomb. There was always one glimmer of hope in adversity - whether I had spoilt my exam, my girl-friend had run away with my best friend or the country was on war - there was a constant ray of light - Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The fact that I would watch him bat under the Indian tri-colour brought a smile to my face, it gave me courage when I was weak, it gave me joy in times of sorrow and it gave me hope in times of despair. The greatest achievement of Tendulkar is not the colossal records he has set but the inspiration he has been to one and all and the happiness he has given to the people at large. His work ethics, qualities of hardwork and dedication, exemplary behaviour on the field as well as off it and above all his humility almost make him immortal but then that is the genius and the wonder of Tendulkar. He cut across regions and religions, caste and creed, villages and cities, rich and poor, the BJP and Congress, and even Arvind Kejriwal and Digvijay Singh! Tendulkar helped in bringing together the entire family - for once the girls sacrificed 'The Sex and the City', the children let go off the Cartoon Network and the middle class Indian woman did not have the urge of watching Ekta Kapoor's 'Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahoo thi'. Such was the magic in Tendulkar's batting, such was the power and the attraction of the man! Tendulkar has seen it all in his era - from parents naming their children after him, to his namesake's attracting beautiful young brides, to people worshiping statues of him in their houses, to women fasting for him and praying for his success. What separates Tendulkar from the other greats of the modern era and makes him stand apart is the fact that whereas a Ponting or a Lara just had to take care of the business on the field, Tendulkar was scrutinized for every move he made on and off it. Every step of his - from Bombay to Bangalore, from Madras to Delhi, from Rajkot to Indore, from London to Barbados, from Cape Town to Sydney was measured, analysed, bisected and scrutinized and sent for postmortem. There would be hundreds waiting for a glimpse of the little man outside his house in Bombay, thousands would flock him if he stepped into a shopping mall, excited kids and their fathers and their grandfathers would run to him for his autograph, news channels would go into a frenzy for every 100 and 0 alike, crowds would mob him if he walked without security and the nation would come to a standstill every time he contributed to an Indian win. There has never been a sportsperson in history who has created so much mass hysteria as Tendulkar. It was, as if, he had to give an account of every breath of his. To imbibe all this in his stride - the pressure, the tension, the success, the failures - from the Bharat Ratna to the booing in Bombay, from the century against Kenya after his father's death to the twin hundreds at Sharjah, from the successes of the CB series Down Under to the pain and agony at the ouster from the 2007 World Cup, from the ultimate high of 2nd April 2011 to the trauma of the demand of his retirement from an ungrateful few, and yet to come out day in and day out, like a old war-horse with the same level of energy, enthusiasm, love and commitment for the game, makes Sachin Tendulkar one of the greatest sportspersons in history! I have grown up watching and idolizing Tendulkar. I have celebrated in his success and cried when he has failed. I have been ecstatic when he has excelled and critical when he has under performed. But all through these 24 years, I have known that no matter what happens tomorrow - whether there is an earthquake, a Tsunami or whether the world is coming to an end - Sachin Tendulkar is there with me and Sachin Tendulkar would come out and bat tomorrow and everything else would be forgotten and everything would be ok. Today, I no longer have that assurance. Cricket will no longer be the same. I feel lonely. I feel alone. I am sad. I am emotional. The nation is completely orphaned!