Sachin Sachin



+Sachin Tendulkar



I am sure there are hundreds of posts going on today, over the last few weeks, months, and will probably come over the next few weeks, months, every one coming out with their own views, comments, experiences, how they have enjoyed, what they will miss, once Sachin is gone.

Not that I am trying to do the same, but watching his last game this week, was an amazing testament to a guy who defined all odds, for such a period of time, made himself into the greatest cricketer the game has ever known. For sure, every country produces greats. Bradman, Sobers, Lara, Grace, Gavaskar, Richards, each one was brilliant in their own way, each successive one better than the other. Bradman for his consistency and high averages, Gavaskar for his technique, Lara for his grace, Sobers for his all roundness, Richards for his raw power, the list is endless.

However Sachin seems to have imbibed the best of every one. Bradman saw him as the closest who was like him, Gavaskar, the master of technique admits that Tendulkar is more focused than he was, Tendulkar himself admitting that he emulated a combination of Gavaskar and Richards. Amazing. And what was truly improbable was that Tendulkar managed it, not for a few years, but for two and a half decades.

The passion, the love, the respect the man had for Cricket, probably, is unbeatable, insurmountable, unreachable. One does not acheive those heights until and unless one is willing to give up every thing. His speech on missing movies, missing evenings with friends and family, are all testament to that. It heightened his greatness and I feel why he succeeded there, was simply because of his humility and humbleness. Ali the Boxer was another example. No one remembers Tyson, Ali IS the one. WAS the One, WILL remain the one. Why, simply because of his humbleness.

Cricket for sure lost a Gentleman today when Sachin decided to call it quits. The emotions he went through will remain etched in memory for a long time. There were many who wanted him to leave, he was not his best in the last two years, however every one who cried today when he left, cried from their heart. Managing the expectations of a Billion People for 2 and half decades, is not an easy task.

Sachin leaving is termed as the last of the Gentlemen leaving the game. For sure, the game will be poorer, and for the sake of the Game, there needs to be another role model that sets such high ideals and examples. It is this very combination of talent and quality that made people term him as the God Of Cricket. Should he turn out to be bigger than the game, it would not be unexpected.

After all +Sachin Tendulkar comes once in a lifetime. And being there is a blessed opportunity.

Treasure Hunt

Don't we all love one! I still remember days gone by, where we used to either setup Treasure Hunts or Participate in one, trying to figure out where the clues are.. Of course, it was a Merry Go Round across various places, finding clues leading to the next. And before you know, you have spent a good part of your Friday or Sunday Weekend participating in one, to end with a prize voucher.. Of course, you had a good part of the tour running along with friends, each trying to outwit one another just to get that first prize... At the end, all in good fun, followed by a good meal. Simple, Right?

So, quite impressed and amused to read the story in the +The Times of India about the Gold Rush at Unnao. A seer's dream of 10,000 tonnes of GOLD to be given to India as a gift to make it a world power. Obviously in trying economic times, this seemed like a boon and the Gold Hunt was on.

Nation wide derides, jeers, political believers, political stunt callers, back trackers, of course we saw the works. The BJP calling is a stunt, backing out because the Sadhu challenged Narendra Modi and he suddenly called him a visionary. Of course, one can term it as an outcome of Election times, and no political bureaucrat worth his or her salt, would have wanted to come out a cropper.

Two weeks later, huge resources spent, a whole lot of grave diggers taking part, the findings so far have come out a blank. Political parties backing off, not wanting to take any fall outs from a possible excavation failure. Of course, if it does come that we find a few tonnes of Gold, surely, every one would take part in the credit, and who knows, where the Gold would end up to.

What's my point? Similar to life in many a case. We hear about a miracle that can happen. Riches that can be had overnight, with limited work (Akshay Khanna got duped recently). There is easy money to be made. There is Gold hidden under our ancestral property. There is wealth hidden in the ancient walls of our ancestral house.. And we take every opportunity that we can and have to get that extra money / Gold, that is supposedly ours and we can get it for free.

True, the generations past, had huge reserves of Gold, however as today, the Gold that was with our Maharajah's was probably a 100 times more than what our politicians have today. True they amassed, but then they also had morals, that they had to take care of their people. You would not hear of a Rajah running away to Switzerland, simply because his enemies were coming. The question though remains.. Is that Gold still available? Did our forefathers leave tonnes for our use? Did the looters not loot every penny that we had before they left?

A similar thought expressed in a Blog - Gold Rush and also my second and probably more relevant question that comes to mind. Would we have been a better off civilization / country / people, had we had our riches still to ourselves? Would the greed that the average common man built in himself, been subsided? Would we have been a better world?

Why can we simply not curb our desires and be happy in what we are and we have? Is that too much to ask??