The Human GOD---Part 1

The year circa, 1989, I heard a 16 year old boy in his feeble, shaky, trembling voice saying to his partner “Mein Khelega” (I will play). How often we see, hear, experience a young boy/girl at such a tender age putting up a brave fight in adversity and coming out with flying colors? The moment we see those flying colors, we easily forget the pains and labors of a fight that prevailed earlier. It’s like celebrating victory in a war without realizing the supreme sacrifices some had to make to get that victory home. In the world we live a 16 year old either is giving his/her SSC/HSC and people are pestering poor child as to how his/her next year is a make or break year. I always failed to understand that how one academic year can make or break a lifespan of 60-70 years, though it’s always been imbibed that way in the Indian families. The race to the top, everyone feels, is won in those 2 years itself. Midst all this there are students who commit suicide, though their whole family is supposed to be supporting them and here was a young baby-faced teenager in his early sixteen making a statement “mein khelga” to his partner who was astonished by the courageous words, one, who was without his family, friends, well wishers and most importantly also not in the confines of his secure world…… he was all alone in an alien hostile country where he was not welcomed at all. His nose was bleeding and he was on the ground as he was hit by one of the fastest bowlers of that time. The young “man” not only said that to his partner or to those 11 Pakistani players on field gunning for his wicket but also to the world that "I will play"…….. The boy got up and played a fighting 57 not out to save his country from a humiliating defeat from the hands of its arch rivals. The young boy was none other than our own Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

The last three words “Sachin Ramesh Tendlkar” bear so much weight now that anyone hardly talks about that 57 at Sialkot from a 16 year old boy whose nose was hit by a Waqar bouncer but still not only stayed there, stood up to fight but also ensured that his country is not let down. His name did not bear the weight that it does now, there was no reputation of being world’s greatest batsman nor sportsman, no fame no adulation no hopes as well. At least the 100 crore Indians, at that time did not hope from him to save the blushes for us as there were other heavy weights in the team. He had courage, the audacity, to stand up and deliver.

In writing as well I made the same mistake of looking at those flying colors i.e. 57 not out in a difficult situation but what I overlooked is the struggle put forth to reach that stage. The focus and perseverance to reach a position where he got this opportunity to score those invaluable runs for himself. The real struggle, though, started after this as in the one-dayers that followed, he hardly scored anything, in fact he scored 2-3 ducks.

Now here is the situation for you…… a young boy 16 years of age scoring a hard fought much appraised 57 in a Test match then gets 2-3 ducks in the following one-dayers. The adulation, praise suddenly turns into criticisms, doubts are raised over his selection rather consequentially he is dropped from the team. Can we imagine the state of his mind as a boy next door or putting ourself in his position? He was among the same 16 year olds who give their SSC or are entering HSC, he is same boy we see next door who is trying desperately to get the first taste of success, first step towards a career. In his very first step he experienced both success and failure.

If we compare his successes and failure then to his career spanning 24 years, does those 2-3 ducks matter, or have being dropped from the team is of any significance now……. The answer would be no!!!!. It does not matter because someone at that time point believed in him and not only believed in him but made sure he also believes in himself. Something told him at that delicate stage to look beyond that failure, someone made him visualize these 24 years. Someone made that failure look so small that it did not really matter as it does not matter to anyone of us now, I shall dare to say it does not matter to even Sachin now.

I think the difference between then and now is the immediate next failure. The success should be measured not by how much, or many times you “succeed” but is there a difference between two consecutive failures. Has the benchmark of your failures risen??

Success is relative and so is failure, the definition of success and failure defines the person. Today the benchmark for failure for Sachin is not getting off the mark but has he hit a century, is he scored most centuries, has he scored most runs in Test and One dayers. The benchmark of his failure has risen and that’s one of the most important factors which keeps him going or keeps him aiming higher. He is successful because the parameters, we say, that he has failed keeps growing higher and higher.

The other important aspect which normally we forget completely is the notion of being failed to achieve something. We forget the 2 most important aspects here;

• Journey taken to pursue the success which eluded you……
• Learning till the failures …….mind the words….. I am not saying Learnings from the failure.....

The Journey in pursuit of achieving something itself is so interesting but we are so obsessed with its result that we completely  ignore its wonderful aspects, learning’s and experiences that it is teaching us.It’s like taking a toy train to Darjeeling and rather than experiencing the journey and looking at the scenic nature, the passenger is more eager and interested to reach Darjeeling. Most of the times, people reach the destination but on reaching there they miss out on all the beautiful mystifying moments that journey produced. We don’t enjoy the journey sighting the destination being too far. There are people who leave the journey in between and new ones join but sometimes we just hardly care.

In most of Sachin’s interviews he has always maintained that he never looked to achieve something like this he just wanted to play, play hard, play honestly and with full vigor. I think what he is emphasizing here is that he never waited for a destination, he concentrated in enjoying the journey of playing for his nation and playing the sport he loved. What he enjoyed most is his journey, the transition of being one of the premier batsman of India and then of the world. For him most important was playing with full honesty and giving it 100% and then wait for the success to follow rather than following the success. It’s not that he did not get his share of failures. He did have his ups and downs as his track record as a captain says it all….. His 2nd innings low scores says it all ……………. His performances in crucial matches had been found wanting at times.

Such is the enormity of his failures at crucial finals or must win matches that in 2003World Cup Final I have seen no one ever utter a single word of criticism to the bowling that gave away 350 runs in the most crucial match any player can play but instead what people talk about is the Sachin dismissal on the 4th delivery of the Indian innings. People did not expect Indian bowling to restrict Aussies but they were expecting Sachin to make those runs for them. I somehow think even then Indian players were also hoping the same. This is what I mean when I said earlier about raising the failure benchmarks to an extent where no one expects any other to even contemplate to achieve that feat but if you don’t achieve its your failure.

All of us remember him smashing bowlers all round the park at Napier, Nottingham, Perth, Mumbai, Chennai and the unforgettable 2003 world cup match against Pakistan. The list will go on and on but how many of us remember the struggle before coming up with Sydney test double century that he carved after series of low scores. The scores that preceded the double hundred were so disappointing that he hardly got over 20 in 6 innings. That’s one of the sluggish I remember him playing. The flamboyance was back only after he had scored 150 but till then he was no more the Sachin we knew. It was not like watching millionaire spending his worth but a hard working middle class man thinking and spending and working hard for every penny. The innings did not have any classical Sachin touch till 150 but it was made up of immense concentration, will power to fight and stay at the wicket and most importantly tremendous control over mind to not to play a false stroke or for that matter any stroke outside the off stump. He controlled his instincts to play on the offside and that started to pay dividends as he was just impregnable after sometime. Two things that stand out which says about the character of this man.

The first thing to stand out was the honesty of the man to none other than himself; normally we tend to hide behind various superficial reasons which are not at all true or should I dare to say honest. We most of the times prepare a justification to our short comings and tend to avoid the facts behind it. I think I have the utmost respect for this man because he does not find any reason to blame, he knows he is the reason and needs no one to correct himself. The innings was the correction done to himself by himself. He was not playing well outside off stump and there would be hardly anybody in the team who had the audacity to walk to him and tell him what to do. The only one person who had that was Sachin himself and he did it with a masterful, chanceless 241 not out in what was Steven Waugh final test match.

The second thing to stand out was the tremendous control over his mind. People who have seen cricket or played it, would agree with me that batting is full of instinct as you have to decide in seconds what shot to play and here was a man who had so much time in his hand as if he would ask his mind which shot not to play and then reiterate to his own mind during the delivery that he is not supposed to play any shot outside off stump. This is an example of focus and determination of one self over none other ones own self. He was determined to prove himself wrong, focused on getting himself right or perfect. He did it in style. The focus and determination and control that I saw on display was Godly and if we can posses half what this man has we would be largely successful in our endeavors. His career is not an example of how a Cricketer should be but how every career oriented or focused person should be.