Dear Son/Daughter,
As I write this you are still at least half a decade away from coming into this earth. By the time you make it here so much would have changed, and the experiences you will have will be vastly different and more amazing than I ever did when I was a kid.
But there is one thing which you will never ever be able to experience. And I feel sad for you that you can't. I felt it the first time at the age of 5. It has no name, but it does have certain specific characteristics. When it starts your heartbeat quickens, palms become sweaty, adrenaline rushes through your body, goosebumps everywhere, one of the purest highs you can get. You forget everything, work, play, school, tiffins, marks, the pretty classmate, mom, dad, everything. And you wait, without breathing.
Suddenly you see him, walking out into the ground, bat tucked beneath his hand, helmet already on, staring into the sun; and the crowd starts to chant his name louder and louder. He walks up to the crease, adjusts his protective gear and you are almost hyper ventilating. A bowler runs in, like a lamb led to slaughter, bowls what he thinks is a good delivery. The ball is met with a bat that is straighter than any thing you will ever see, the ball running past the bowler down the ground, kissing the turf, bisecting the angle, over the boundary. And your heart erupts with joy, almost orgasmic joy. Every time you hear the crack is like best moment of your life. Imagine having every moment for hours as the best moment of your life.
And then suddenly he is gone. Your heart breaks like a dry piece of wood. You feel cheated, disheartened, dismayed, disillusioned. Your entire world crumbles around you in that very instant. Nothing seems worth living for, fighting for. As he walks back to the pavilion the entire nation rises as one, applause thundering, the crowd still chanting his name. He raises his bat slightly, acknowledging the crowd, neither subservient, nor over bearing.
Imagine if a person could give you all of life's emotions in the course of a single innings and then do it over and over again for over 20 years. You get to live your entire life all over again, every single time he walks out to bat.
My child, today I feel very profound sadness that you will never experience any of this. All you will have are videos on youtube, just shadows and mockeries of the originals. You will never believe why so many boys of my generation were named the same. You will never know how much my heart aches today, when he decided to quit. You will never know of the Desert Storm, or believe that 250 runs can be made without a single cover drive, that at 38, a man can score 200 runs in an ODI (heck! I don't even think you will know what ODIs are!). You will never know that a single upper cut over third man made an entire nation scream in joy. You will never know that with a bad bad bad back, 135 runs can be made against our bitter-most cricket enemies on minefield. You will never see the pure joy on his face of finally winning the world cup.
But one thing you, your kids, their kids and even their kids will surely know. Once upon a time, there was a God who walked amongst mortals, and his name was Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.
Love,
Pa
As I write this you are still at least half a decade away from coming into this earth. By the time you make it here so much would have changed, and the experiences you will have will be vastly different and more amazing than I ever did when I was a kid.
But there is one thing which you will never ever be able to experience. And I feel sad for you that you can't. I felt it the first time at the age of 5. It has no name, but it does have certain specific characteristics. When it starts your heartbeat quickens, palms become sweaty, adrenaline rushes through your body, goosebumps everywhere, one of the purest highs you can get. You forget everything, work, play, school, tiffins, marks, the pretty classmate, mom, dad, everything. And you wait, without breathing.
Suddenly you see him, walking out into the ground, bat tucked beneath his hand, helmet already on, staring into the sun; and the crowd starts to chant his name louder and louder. He walks up to the crease, adjusts his protective gear and you are almost hyper ventilating. A bowler runs in, like a lamb led to slaughter, bowls what he thinks is a good delivery. The ball is met with a bat that is straighter than any thing you will ever see, the ball running past the bowler down the ground, kissing the turf, bisecting the angle, over the boundary. And your heart erupts with joy, almost orgasmic joy. Every time you hear the crack is like best moment of your life. Imagine having every moment for hours as the best moment of your life.
And then suddenly he is gone. Your heart breaks like a dry piece of wood. You feel cheated, disheartened, dismayed, disillusioned. Your entire world crumbles around you in that very instant. Nothing seems worth living for, fighting for. As he walks back to the pavilion the entire nation rises as one, applause thundering, the crowd still chanting his name. He raises his bat slightly, acknowledging the crowd, neither subservient, nor over bearing.
Imagine if a person could give you all of life's emotions in the course of a single innings and then do it over and over again for over 20 years. You get to live your entire life all over again, every single time he walks out to bat.
My child, today I feel very profound sadness that you will never experience any of this. All you will have are videos on youtube, just shadows and mockeries of the originals. You will never believe why so many boys of my generation were named the same. You will never know how much my heart aches today, when he decided to quit. You will never know of the Desert Storm, or believe that 250 runs can be made without a single cover drive, that at 38, a man can score 200 runs in an ODI (heck! I don't even think you will know what ODIs are!). You will never know that a single upper cut over third man made an entire nation scream in joy. You will never know that with a bad bad bad back, 135 runs can be made against our bitter-most cricket enemies on minefield. You will never see the pure joy on his face of finally winning the world cup.
But one thing you, your kids, their kids and even their kids will surely know. Once upon a time, there was a God who walked amongst mortals, and his name was Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.
Love,
Pa
