It’s the way he makes me feel…

Everyone has an imaginary friend, let me correct that… some of us out there have imaginary friends… I didn’t… or so I told myself… for quite sometime… until one fine wintry evening I found myself talking to him… I was upset about something… I can’t remember what… but what I do remember is walking into my room, locking it, staring at the walls and talking (not loudly). I talked, softly… as if I was trying to work out the problem, and 15 minutes later, I felt better… life seemed back to normal and just as I was about to unlock my bedroom door, I turned back… smiled suddenly and the serene, calm and charismatic face smiled back at me! And it suddenly struck me… this might have happened a million times before! I had an imaginary friend… I just didn’t realize it! But that evening I recognized him for what he was… my friend, my confidante… Sachin Tendulkar… who’s posters have adorned the walks of my rooms for as long as I can remember…

A lot has been written about the kind of person he is, what makes him so special, what makes him the heartbeat of millions around the world… With him completing 20 years in Indian cricket on 15th November, 2009, the last few days have a been an overdose of information about the little man who successfully carries the burden of so many expectations.

However, frankly speaking, none of these things matter to me… he might be humble or proud, gentleman or ogre, generous or miserly… it just doesn’t matter to me. What he is in real life is of least interest to me…

What matters to me, what touches me, what affects me, is the way he makes me feel! Sounds corny, I know. But it’s a fact. Over the past 20 years, I am yet to come across a better shrink, a better confidante, a better friend! No matter what the state of mind, I have yet to remember a time, when I didn’t smile, at least a little, when I saw him smiling back at me from the walls of my room. I have yet to remember a time, when I didn’t completely forget personal problems, fights with friends, exam tensions, work worries when Sachin was tearing down the oppositions bowling barricade. All the worries in the world seem to go into oblivion for those few hours when he was making the bowlers dance to his tune. I am yet to find a better friend… who would make me forget what’s bothering me!

But he manages it, each time, effortlessly. One look at him take his stance at the crease and I am automatically convinced whatever it is that is bothering me, will work itself out. Of course, there have been those odd fights with him, when he couldn’t meet my expectations, and a few tears shed because just like some other friends and confidantes, he failed to live up to my expectations… but they are easily forgotten, the next time he is right there giving hope to millions like me. Is it my love for cricket or the adoration of the man… is difficult to understand… but I do feel that the day he stops appearing on the grounds… I will not find the motivation to sit through a match… for it’s not just the love for the game, or national pride that makes me sit through a long day of cricket, but the way he makes me feel that makes all the difference!

Thank you for being there!!