The God Of All Things!

He debuted in the era of Rajiv Gandhi and now as Rahul Gandhi visits the house of Kalavati,he is still there.Hitting Australian bowlers all over the park yet finding his team short.Just short.Things have not changed as far as Sachin Tendulkar is concerned.He is a permanent fixture.Like Rahel's wrist watch in "The God Of Small Things" which always shows "Ten to two".He has always showed us the path to salvation.
Have we ever cried if Dravid got out(even on 99)?Would we have burnt the effigies of Mike Denness had Kumble been sanctioned instead of Sachin?Have we ever switched off the TV after seeing Yuvraj get out?Sachin has always been The Chosen One.
Sachin's numbers are huge enough(Like the Rs.73 lakh crore scams) to make you gasp.Most test runs,most ODI runs,most test centuries,most ODI centuries,most test fifties,most ODI fifties,most Man-Of-The-Match awards in ODIs,most number of fours hit in cricket ever.The God of Big Things.Yet numbers do not tell even half the story.Like reading on newspapers that the budget of "2012" was 260 million dollars.Numbers are emotionless beasts and Sachin was the quintessential hero who tamed them.

He will also be remembered as the one who hit a century coming straight from his father's funeral.The one who dedicated his fourth-innings century to the victims of Mumbai attacks.The one who has sacrificed his private life for 15 years.The one who gave Shane Warne nightmares.The one who replied to Caddick's words with a sixer outside the ground.The one who singlehandedly took India to the brink of victory against Pakistan in Chennai with cramps.(Underline "with cramps").The one who made Don Bradman say "This fellow bats like me".The one who could walk.The one who made us forget our office schedules.The one who made us forget our exams.The One.The God of Small Things.

I still remember an Irani trophy match in Bangalore.Packed house,25000 plus.Sachin got out for 8 runs.A big gasp from the crowd.They cursed the bowler and started dispersing.The match had just started and they had started leaving already.The rest of the game was played in half the strength.

To them and fans nationwide,Sachin was as big as the game itself.His century was a World cup win to us(87 wins to Australia's 4!).He was not divine(He once scored 241 runs against Australia with no shots in the off-side.) but he was our best mortal.Correction.Is our best mortal.Replace all "was"s with "is".He still is the backbone of our Indian team.The backbone of our Indian psyche.And the question still remains.The Question With No Answer.The Question Which No One Wants To Answer.The Question:"Who after Sachin?",or rather "What after Sachin?".

Like all fairy tales,the screen has to come down one day.And that day is what a billion Indians cannot imagine.New centuries can be imagined and even new sixers.But no one can fill in the shoes of The icon of New India.If Sachin retires after the 2011 world cup,Mayan calendar will be proved wrong.The world will come to an end a year before 2012.