And then I was told that I would live a day quite different from all these 25 years...A day when people would say that it's time for God to step down. A day when a billion people would say it's time for us to stop believing....to stop hoping.. .to stop dreaming..I fear that day is around the corner.
A piece of newspaper reads "Kapil Dev wants Sachin Tendulkar to retire immediately".And another says "Prasanna backs Kapil's call for Sachin's retirement".For some reason these articles hurt. It hurts a generation whose oldest memory traces back to final over of 1993 Hero Honda cup semi final.It hurts a generation that learnt to hope by watching a game...It hurts a generation that learnt to dream by watching a person bat..... It hurts a generation whose hopes were shattered when one man was dismissed... It hurts a generation whose dreams were burnt in a stadium which they call Eden Gardens...
Amidst all shattered hopes & unfulfilled dreams, we loved a man who gave it all for his country. A man who demonstrated what one man army means...Be it in sharjah where we saw the epitome of heroism or at turning Indian pitches where he danced down the ground & offered sleepless nights to the greatest spinner of the world. They called him Genius..But we always loved to call him the child prodigy..We never thought he could age...Who could forget that excited, animated 31 year old man running all the way from boundary line after taking an amazing catch of Inzamam..And then we heard them saying "If Tendulkar is claiming a catch, he is one player whom you can trust in the world"...He was more than a Genius for us..He was the most humble Genius we could ever know..And he taught us what Greatness is...
We could never forget that humid evening at chennai. An evening that made a 25 year old cry for one reckless shot he played after a classic ton.A shot that cost the match against arch rivals.He took the blame for a team that could not put up another 20 runs to win the match..But it was nothing new to him..With time we learnt to comprehend the phrase "One Man Army" better & better.
People have come & gone...But he remained firm...And he made our conviction stronger and stronger.."This child would never age...."They made him the captain & gave him a team that could not chase down 120 runs to mark an overseas test victory after ages...They gave him a set of tainted people around..He batted to give us some sweet victories ..And we just bowed at him when we knew that he not only outplayed the opposition but also a set of traitors within the team...He was more than a cricketing Genius for us..We hailed him...
And suddenly someone taught us that there is something called a team....For the first time we saw some young bloods helping the great man in the noble cause...One fine day they gave him what he wanted the most..A world cup victory for his country..We saw him being carried on shoulders....And we carried the moment in our hearts..Something we yearned for two decades...We could not control our tears..A moment of gratitude...
We celebrated all his records..We wanted the man to score more tons..More magical figures..We put a billion hopes on him...But he never complained...His blood turned sweat but that never stopped the man....But one fine day we saw him losing his ground..They started calling him aged.We could never buy that..He was always that animated, excited little prodigy who dived and took some of the amazing catches..He was that Genius who took the fastest of the bowlers into stands in a fraction of the second...But they say that he could not score a ton since 22 innings...He could not score a century in England last year..He could not score a century in Australia..They say that his heydays are over..And that 100th one will be a far cry from reality..But we hoped..And we continue to hope..In the midst of all the apprehensions..In the midst of all these chaos..We know that he will not disappoint a generation that watched him all these years...They might say he does not have to prove anything more...They might hail him and ask him to stop the show..But we cannot....We know that there is something to be proved at this point..A testimony to end all doubts and protect a belief that we have been carrying all these years....And we know that the little man would live up to our expectations as he always did since the day we learnt to walk & talk...
