When Mumbai came to a standstill!

Mumbai, the city of dreams as some say, is never short of strangers. Every other day, there are people from various corners of the country and abroad who travel to Mumbai with a hope to make it large in life. In some ways, it is a city that hardly sleeps. In fact, it is termed to be one of those places where you pause for a minute and end up missing an opportunity that might never return again. The 13th of November 2013, just like any other day, had people flying in from everywhere, with an unusual glow on their faces, a step closer to chasing their dream with each passing second. However, it was a different kind of a dream, this time around. They were on the verge of becoming a part of history. It was a dream that only a few lucky and extremely passionate ones get to live. The city was getting ready to witness the most spectacular farewell in the history of sports. They were here to bid adieu to Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, a legend of the truest sense who was about to play his 200th Test match at a venue where the foundation to his dreams was laid - the Wankhede. Only 5,000 tickets out of the 33,000 were available for the common man, and with the internet fiasco that rocked the ticketing site leaving thousands of fans disappointed, the madness was somewhat expected to be mellowed down a wee bit. Nitin Patel, Team India's physio, who happened to be on the same flight, said he was bombarded by ticket requests too. "For matches that are very popular like this one, it is hard for the team management and the players to get tickets too. We need to inform the BCCI well in advance and buy them," he said. Cricket fans had flown in from everywhere. Some were lucky enough to get to book their tickets through the ticketing site, despite it being unstable and unavailable for most of the fans due to high traffic, while the others had good affiliations in Mumbai who could perhaps help them with the tickets. One such avid cricket fan, Hurshil Doshi, a British citizen of Indian origin, who also happens to play cricket for the same local club that Monty Panesar plays for, decided to make his first trip to India to see his cricketing hero Sachin Tendulkar bid goodbye to cricket. "I kept trying and eventually got lucky with the tickets online. I just had one ticket, and I had to come alone. I spent around 700 pounds, which happens to be much more than a month's salary, but there are no regrets, I'm here to be a part of something really big," he said. There was a third kind too, people who neither had access to tickets nor knew how they would get hold of one. Where there's a will, there's a way, people say, and these were the ones who had taken this proverb far too seriously. After all, it was Sachin Tendulkar's farewell game where each of his billion fans wanted to be there but only 33,000 could eventually get there, not to forget the fact that most of the tickets had already been given to VIPs, clubs, associates and the like. Despite that, fans hoped to somehow manage to grab hold of the tickets, even willing to pay a lot more than the actual price of the ticket if need be. Subash Jayaraman, a blogger by passion, popular as The Cricket Couch on Twitter had flown all the way from Pennsylvania, leaving his work behind, without any guarantee that he would get a ticket to the game. "I just took a chance and it was totally worth it," said Subash after laying his hands on the match tickets. There were people who had come down from New York, London, Sydney and many other cities around the world just to watch their idol, Sachin Tendulkar. A group of 200 taxi drivers from across Mumbai had got together to pay their tribute to Sachin Tendulkar in a unique way by offering free taxi service to any cricket fan who had the match ticket. There were advertising hoardings dedicated to Tendulkar and the farewell series on pretty much every road in Mumbai. Fans lined up in front of the stadium as early as 7 AM with tricolours painted on their faces, sporting their customized Tendulkar t-shirts. The chants 'Sachiiin, Sachinnn' had already begun. Despite a few empty seats, the noise levels broke all barriers when Darren Sammy called it wrong and lost the toss. There was a moment of silence when the crowd realized that Dhoni had put the West Indies to bat. Little did they know, they might see Tendulkar come out to bat, the same day. It seemed like nobody cared to even look at the scorecard. This was all about Sachin. More number of people started to make their way in, when West Indies started to crumble. Apart from Sachin, one of the loudest cheers went to Murali Vijay, when he was dismissed by Shillingford. He must have been surprised for a minute or two, but eventually realized that the big (little) man is walking out to bat. The crowd went berserk when the West Indies welcomed Tendulkar with a guard of honour. Not a single seat was taken and not a single fan was silent for the 20 over duration that Tendulkar was at the crease on Day 1. It was safe to assume that if Day 2 wouldn't produce a full house, no other Test match in India ever again would. It almost did, barring a few empty seats here and there. Tendulkar treated the crowd with all his trademark shots - the ever so elegant cover drive, the godly straight drive, the finest of leg glances, the smooth late cut and the punch through the covers before he finally got out for 74 caught at first slip. Sammy, who fell over after taking the catch chose not to celebrate and people weren't sure what just happened. As they saw Sachin walk back, the crowd was stunned to silence and within seconds, the chant 'Sachin, Sachin' started again. In the back of their minds, perhaps most fans knew that Tendulkar won't bat again, looking at where India was positioned in the game by then. There was always room for humour among the Mumbai fans. After Tendulkar got out, the chants, 'Dhoni, declare' started to reverberate across the stadium. It soon switched to, 'Dhoni Sir, Declare' but to no avail. Every time there was an appeal from the West Indies, the crowd joined in. Another popular cricketer, though for the wrong reasons, was Ishant Sharma. The crowd never missed an opportunity to shout 'Ishaaant Ishannnt' when the tall fast bowler walked out with drinks. During instances when Ishant didn't come out, the crowd chanted 'We want Ishant'. Not just the Indians, but even Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul got warm reception from the crowd. When Rohit Sharma was going berserk, and the West Indies were struggling to get the 10th wicket, the crowd started shouting, 'We want Gayle' in unison. By then, it was almost certain that the match would end in three days. The fans arrived early in large numbers yet again on the 16th of November. They didn't want to miss the victory lap and the much anticipated farewell speech from Tendulkar. When the spinners triggered a West Indies collapse, the crowd started shouting 'Tendulkar, Bowling kar' and also requested Dhoni to give Tendulkar a chance to bowl. Dhoni did acknowledge, which followed the cheers, 'Dhoni Zindabad' from the Mumbaikars. Every delivery Tendulkar bowled was watched with baited breath and greeted with loud applauses. There was already a sense of sadness in the fans even as Team India gave Tendulkar a guard of honour after the win. The chants 'Sachin Sachin' continued even as they experienced butterflies in their stomach. The fans would never see their hero play again, and that feeling hadn't sunk in yet. The emotional Farewell speech, about which much has already been said, left the fans in tears. Many more die-hard fans, at the stadium and the ones at home watching it on the television, broke down when Tendulkar walked back to take blessings of the pitch that made him the man he is, or the God he is, as many of his avid worshipers would believe. The city that never stopped for anyone had come to a stand-still. Tendulkar went around for a victory lap carried by Dhoni and Kohli on their shoulders thanking the crowd for their unconditional support and headed back to the dressing room. The fans waited in front of the main gate, until the team bus left the stadium and much to their delight, Tendulkar waved to his fans with the Indian whites on, for one final time. Another Tendulkar fan, who had come all the way from Bangalore, headed to Bandra to get a Tendulkar signature tattoo done on his arm. Even hours after the game ended, there were chants of 'Sachin Sachin' at random places - in restaurants, on the streets, in the buses, local trains and everywhere. The amount of love the city in particular and also the country in general, has for Tendulkar cannot be taken away. He may have retired from the game, but will never retire from their hearts. The chants 'Sachin Sachin' will continue to rule the country for years to come and the ones who were at the Wankhede would have a beautiful story to tell to their grandchildren one day.