Open letter to Sachin Tendulkar on his 43rd birthday

Dear Sachin Tendulkar

Ever since I gained complete consciousness I naturally got inclined to the game of cricket and even more so to you. From emulating your stance to the shrugging of the shoulders and all the little great things you did on the field I tried to copy and strived harder towards the same as I entered in my youth. I knew very well that it would mean nothing at the end of the day to many but I continued doing so not to show or prove anything to anyone but for my own satisfaction as I truly relished glorifying you in spite of knowing it certainly that someone hardly, if at all, needs to be glorified if his name happens to be Sachin Tendulkar. I also have pretty sure I was not alone who tried emulating you in any little cricket that we played.

Time does flow by rather quickly and as it did my passion for the game increased incredibly and what even multiplied with it was my liking and innermost affection towards you. The moment I was asked about my idol or I had to write an essay on ‘ones role model’ in life it goes without saying that I just used to put my deepest and heartiest feeling for you on paper and it won’t be an exaggeration by any standard when I say that on most occasions I ended up getting good value for it. But again, that was totally immaterial to me. My biggest gain used to be the inner bliss and a unique inexplicable satisfaction that I derived after finishing such essays which are still and would forever be amongst the top memories to savour and cherish for my entire life.

Watching you bat on television and at the Eden Gardens was something that used to give me the thrill, the rush of blood and high moments of ecstasy whether you scored a duck or a breathtaking century. Whether you fielded the ball, took a catch, effected a run out or appeared with the ball in your hand; the experience to me was not much different. From your match winning performances to match saving knocks, from your little cameos to an innings of the highest display of classical batsmanship I do remember the lion’s share of them being etched in my memory like anything.

Your stats and records were something that I used to reverberate virtually each day as it gradually became a routine for me. The only thing I used to read in a newspaper every morning was the sports page and more specifically cricket and even more particularly any article that had Sachin Tendulkar’s mention in it. I still possess vivid memories of the scintillating strokes that flowed out of your heavy bat which you mapped like a paint brush, displaying your artistry on the 22-yard of canvas. The glorious boundaries and the crafty nudges that took you to several milestones, the bowler who were at the receiving end when you reached an epoch-making event, the batsman who stood at the other end witnessing history from the best place in the world.

I would get vehemently impatient whenever there was a big gap between India’s match and even more desperately frustrated when you were out of action owing to some reason (injuries on most occasions). After such a void when you took field again, the nights before the game used to get really difficult for me; I could hardly sleep out of excitement. Early morning matches were one of those very rare occasions when I would get up well before anyone else in the house waiting impatiently and desperately; repeatedly staring at the watch for the eventual action to begin.

However, I never preferred to read much during the slumps you had in your long career. I was never disappointed by those rare failures as I was well versed with the nature and the high competitiveness and unpredictability of the game; I always knew at the back of my mind that it was just a matter of time before you once again start making a feast of runs contributing to the team’s success and to the nation’s delight.

Time did fly by rather quickly and on when you declared your decision to bid adieu to the game after 24 long years of service to Indian cricket, to the game; almost two and a half decade of legacy that  you  left behind I prepared myself mentally not to watch your last two Tests against the West Indies at Eden Gardens and the Wankhade, but destiny took me to the Eden Gardens following a queer occurrence of events on the very first day and I got more disappointed as I had to return without watching you bat. However, I wholeheartedly enjoyed the wicket that you took just like everyone else in the ground. While returning from the stadium I decided not to ever visit it anymore and I still maintain it. Actually, to be very honest I was trying to accept the hard reality from within that it’s not long before I would have to be contented watching only India play without Sachin Tendulkar in the lineup, something that I had never experienced before and obviously was and is still one of the hardest things to digest in my life. But, even in your last innings in spite of my own severe self-resistance I couldn’t stop myself from switching on the television set although I knew that like all your ardent admirers my eyes would also get wet and it would be an emotional moment for me.

You have inspired a generation of cricketers and you were the reason why many decided to play and watch the sport. You have not only taken Indian cricket forward but have championed the sport itself elevating its position in front of the whole world as there are many across the globe who don’t know what cricket is and how it is played but they certainly know very well one name and that is Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar- One Legend One Man and a human being par excellence.

The way you have carried yourself both on and off the field from a childhood prodigy to a superhuman superstar whose is followed by millions on each movement that he makes is beyond praise-able extents. Your humility combined with your generosity makes you reach the masses even more closely than any other sportsman or celebrity in the entire country and that is exactly the reason why you still get the same accolade and appreciation as you used to get in your playing days. Your records and your ability as a batsman would be the matter of discussion till the game has its existence. You are a burning example who showed how to grind and sweat it out every single time in spite of being blessed and bestowed with a world of talent and potentiality never resorting to shortcuts while dreaming for the road to success and glory.

People say the name Sachin Tendulkar would be immortal till the game of cricket lives on this wonderful planet but I firmly believe Sachin Tendulkar would be remembered in history time and again history exists. Such is the magnanimity of your impact on this nation of more than a billion. So, on the auspicious eve of your 43rd birthday and with another mass upheaval set to take place with the your upcoming biopic Sachin- A Billion Dreams I wish you a very happy birthday from the core of my heart and may your biopic be yet another event of inspiration to everyone to whom cricket has been a religion and you it’s God as you are already and anyway a billion’s dream. I fervently hope and am totally sure that you would continue to make India and the entire cricketing fraternity proud even without your favourite bat in your hands because you are truly of one such kind- the invincible and the unmatchable, the born identified Sachin Tendulkar.

Written by Anamitra Sarkhel

Do you know how many runs he scored between his birthdays?- Stats: Progressive analysis of Sachin Tendulkar’s career runs birthday wise