A meeting with Sachin Tendulkar - The day I met the God of Cricket

Kolkata is known as the ‘city of joy’ and it certainly turned out to be one for me on the night of January 29th. The city has an old colonial charm about it and it is one of the few metros in the country where people do not seem to be in a hurry.

Talking about hurry, I seldom reach an airport early and invariably end up running to catch the flight. I ran this night as well, but it was not for a flight. Now, I don't have any rationale to justify this bad habit of mine but my mother says that I just reach late for the thrill of it. Strangely, on this auspicious Sunday when my wife and I were returning from my in-laws’ place; I wanted to be on time. This was mainly because I had planned to meet an old friend at the airport.

But the epic 2017 Australian Open finals between Roger Federer & Rafal Nadal ensured that my friend was glued to the television set and he did not make it to the airport. So, I had the option of either risking my flight and going to the Kolkata city to meet him or to drop the meeting plan altogether.

Again, in nine out of ten cases; I would have chosen to go to the city. Instead, this time I settled for the safer option. I decided to directly go to the airport and spend the remaining time waiting at the airport. Little did I know that it was going to be one of the best decisions ever taken by me. Once inside the airport, I was thinking of ways in which we could spend a couple of hours before our flight.

Is it Sachin?

With a cocktail of ideas in my head, I completed the security check. As soon as I had picked my hand baggage, though, I noticed a man with black curly hairs on a go-kart being escorted by security personnel. I turned to my wife and asked, “Is it Sachin?”

She said yes and we decided to run behind. Within a couple of seconds she realised that she had left her mobile phone at the security counter, so she decided to go back and asked me to continue the chase. I ran but gave up the hope when Sachin stepped out of the kart and took the elevator to go one level down.

My feeling at this moment was similar to what I used to feel every time Sachin got out in his playing days. I came back disappointed and told my wife that he was gone. Her response was, “So what? Let’s go down”.

We again began the chase again. A CISF guard who was witness to our excitement told us to run fast and assured us that we will get to meet the cricket god. So, we came down and by now Sachin was at the boarding gate. It felt as though the third umpire had given me a reprieve.

“Quickly turn the camera and take the pic”

A fan clicks a selfie with Sachin Tendulkar

My wife shouted from behind, “Saaaachiiiiiiin”. I joined her in and said, “Sachin sir, one photo”. By now I was at an arms distance from the god. His manager responded, “Sorry, we are late and don’t have time”. Before I could start cursing the manager in my mind, what transpired next was straight out of the dream of any Indian cricket fan. Sachin himself turned to me and said, “Quickly turn the camera and take the pic”.

Hearing this, my heartbeat jumped to the levels it used to whenever Sachin neared a century. I froze for a moment and felt as though my mind had gone blank.

Thankfully, though, I was in enough sense to turn on the selfie mode on the camera of my cell. I positioned the cell phone to ensure that I was in the frame with the great Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and then I heard the click of the camera. I wanted to raise the cellphone like a bat and acknowledge the applause of the crowd.

Sachin smiled and I said, “Thank you”. My wife who had taken the backseat and was trying to be the woman behind my success also thanked Sachin. In return, Sachin again smiled and waved goodbye to my wife. In my mind, I could hear the entire airport chanting - Sachin…Sachin.

I thanked my wife who was instrumental in not only making me run crazily but also the fact that she chose to stay behind sensing that chances of Sachin entertaining the request for a photo was more if there was only one person. Both of us were jumping joy and were over the moon. All this had happened within a span of five minutes. We then sat down at a nearby chair to restore normalcy. We were short of words.

It was serendipity

Now, I had seen Sachin before in stadiums. In fact, I was present at the Wankhede stadium when the nation bid an emotional farewell to him. But as one of my friends said, “There’s a difference between seeing and meeting”. On previous occasions, I had seen Sachin and this time I had actually met him. Even though it lasted for only a few minutes; I will cherish it till my last breath.

The following lines closely capture my feeling - “You are my serendipity. I wasn’t looking for you, I wasn’t expecting you. But I’m very lucky I met you”. It indeed was serendipity.

When I narrated this to my friends and family, they asked me to get that photo framed. I know that I will get it framed someday. But do I really need to? It is a picture which has been engraved in my memory forever.

And taking a cue out of Sachin’s farewell speech, I will say - The memory you have left with me will always be with me forever and ever, especially “Quickly turn the camera and take the pic” which will reverberate in my ears till I stop breathing. Thank you, Sachin!