From the internet: A tribute to Sachin Tendulkar

Following Sachin Tendulkar‘s retirement from ODI cricket, it was only a matter of time before this particular work, listed below, went viral on the internet. It is widely believed that the following tribute on Tendulkar was penned down by Harsha Bhogle. However, he recently tweeted saying he has no connection whatsoever with this work of art.

Here is the piece in question, straight from the internet, posted by Mr. Anonymous. Neither the author nor the site claims any ownership over the following text.

Remember when you failed an examination. How many people recall that? Your classmates, friends, relatives? You failed to make it to the IITs or IIMs. Who remembers it? How many times have you had the feeling of being the best in your class, school, university, state? You failed to get a visa stamped this quarter, you missed a promotion this year – how did it feel when your dad told you in your early twenties that you are good for nothing? And now your boss tells you the same. You keep introspecting and go into a shell when people, most of whom don’t matter a dime in your life, criticize you, make fun of you. You are left sad and shattered and you cry when your own kin scoffs at you. You say I am feeling low today. It takes a lot from us to come out of these everyday situations and move on. A lot? Really?

Now here’s a man standing on the third man boundary in the last over of a World Cup match. The bowler just has to bowl sensibly to win this game. What the man at the boundary sees is four rank bad bowls bowled without any sense of focus, planning or regret. India loses, yet again in those circumstances when he has done just about everything right. He does not cry, does not show any emotion. He just keeps his head down and leaves the field. He has seen these failures for 22 years now.

And not just his classmates, relatives, friends, but the whole world has seen these failures. We are too immature to even imagine what goes on in that mind and heart of his.

That’s why I would never want to be Sachin.

True, he has single handedly lifted the mood of this entire nation umpteen number of times. He has been an inspiration for us to rise above our mediocrity. Nobody who has ever lifted the willow even comes close to this man’s genius. His dedication and metal strength is unparalleled.

This is specially for those people who would have made fun of him again last night. They are people who are mediocre in their own lives, who just scoff at others to have a cheap laugh. People who have lived in a small hole throughout their lives and thought they have seen the oceans.

Think about the man himself. He is 39 years of age. He has been playing almost non stop for 22 years. The way he was running and diving around the field would have put 22-year-olds to shame. The way he played the best opening quickies in the world was breathtaking. He just keeps getting better, something which is humanly impossible. It is not for nothing that people call him GOD.

But still I don’t want to be in those shoes.

We struggle in keeping our monotonous lives straight, lives which affect a limited number of people. Imagine what would be the magnitude of the inner struggle for him. Pain both mental and physical, tears that have frozen with time, knees and ankles and every other joint in the body that is either bandaged or needs to be attended to every night, eyes that don’t sleep before a big game, bats that have scored 99 international tons and yet he still has to look up at the expectations of a billion people. And he just converts those expectations into reality. And we watch in awe, privileged to have witnessed this marvel.