This weekend I was at New Delhi to attend a wedding and I took the opportunity to visit Rajghat, the memorial of the Father of the Nation—Mahatma Gandhi. This is the second or third time that I am visiting Rajghat and the experience has always been the same. A sense of peace and quiet descends on me. Indeed it was this search for peace that took me to Rajghat again. It was as though I wanted to reconfirm that I would feel this peace again.
As I closed my eyes before the Samadhi, I saw before me the light (the jyoti) which was enclosed in a glass container of sorts. Till that point I was merrily clicking pictures on my mobile phone. It seemed to be sacrilege that one should click photographs at a spot like this. While I refrained, I could not but see that crass commercialism had intruded here too. A photographer was offering to click anyone who wanted to pose at the Samadhi and give instant photographs for a fee of course. .
While this sight filled me with revulsion, on closing my eyes I not only experienced overwhelming peace and quiet but also felt energized. I think that perhaps I went into brief meditation. This is not something that I have experienced even in religious places and maybe this has something to do with the fact that I am not particularly religious by nature. Gandhiji of course stood for religious harmony which is a strong article of faith with me. The Mahatma is perhaps my shepherd.
As I walked away from Rajghat and went about the daily business of life and living, I could not but think of Jawaharlal Nehru’s famous speech after the assassination of the Mahatma—The light has gone out of our lives. After beginning with these lines Nehru says in his speech, “The light has gone out I said, yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light. The light that has illumined this country for these many years will illumine this country for many more years, and a thousand years later that light will be seen in this country and the world will see it and it will give solace to inuumerable hearts.”
Gandhiji had fallen to an assassin’s bullet many years before I was born. The light at Rajghat not only gave solace to my heart but enabled me to connect with the Mahatma.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Sachin Tendulkar : Man or Myth ?
This week I too but cannot celebrate the genius of Sachin Tendulkar. I am reproducing below an article I wrote in 2005 when Tendulkar was out of the game with an injury and facing tremendous criticism for his alleged lack of performance.
Article:
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At sixteen he burst into a nation’s collective consciousness Sixteen years later, the nation is questioning whether he has the right to occupy that consciousness.
Today, as he grapples with injury and hears questions being asked about his legacy and indeed even if there is one, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar might be forgiven for thinking that he lives in an unfair world.
The knives are in many ways out for this man who the great Don Bradman said –reminds him of himself . Tendulkar is in many ways being asked to being prove himself all over again. The man who owns practically every record in the books ironically finds his greatness being questioned for precisely being buried under the weight of runs. Records are fine his critics say, but where are the match winning innings ? What is the use of the solo shows, when it did not translate into wins for the team?
Haven’t his contemporaries achieved more ? Lara at Barbados, Laxman at Kolkata and Dravid at Adelaide ? Further, how many times has Tendulkar pulled India out of trouble a la Dravid, played that defining knock Laxman knock or simply redefined batting like Lara?
Also, can this man display the bravado of a Sehwag or play with the abandon of a Gilchrist when the chips are down?
By the way is this guy as tough as Gavaskar.? Didn’t the original little master play better quality attacks especially the famed west Indian quartet and get runs by the ton.? Is this little man really as great as Vivian Richards ? Is the to be or not to be version of Tendulkar a patch on the king who reigned for much of the seventies and eighties.For that matter was he ever that great at all ?
Finally, isn’t this guy who gazes out of cola ads and plugs cell phones a pure creation of marketing hype? Have Sachin’s over enthusiastic spin doctors done the little man a disservice by creating a level of hype that perhaps helps him earn millions but also created the image of a fairy prince who was slated to lead the nation out of the cricketing morass it found itself in for a large part of his career but simply couldn’t?
Instead even while one associates a fairy tale victory to Mohammed Kaif and Yuvraj Singh like the Natwest trophy final at Lords in June 2002 the enduring memory of Tendulkar is perhaps that of the man who almost pulled it off against a rampant Pakistan at Chennai.. Indeed Chennai has in many come to characterise the Tendulkar cricketing story, runs for the man which couldn’t prevent ruins for the team..
There is merit in all these arguments. A Lara on song is probably the best batsman to have played the game after the Don. Dravid continuously redifines mental toughness while Laxman seems to conjure up the big one just when his team needs it the most.
At Kolkata his innings turned a series on its head, while his wand of courage in the last one dayer at Pakistan ensured that India beat its arch rivals in a series in their own backyard for the first time in history.
Further, it was Sehwag’s triple hundred that set the tone for the epoch making series win in Pakistan. Bowlers round the world have described Gilchrist as the most dangerous batsman in the world.
Certainly, Tendulkar has not faced the same quality of attacks that Gavaskar did. To be sure, Richards imposed himself on the facing some of the best bowlers in the history of the game in a way that Tendulkar hasn’t.
Make no mistake though. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is not just one of the all time greats of cricket but sport. No man in the history of sport has been subjected to the pressure of expectations that this man has been. For a billion Indians watching Tendulkar is not about witnessing one of the finest feats of batsmanship but an act of catharsis.
For a nation that has been perenially starved off heroes, watching Tendulkar was not about witnessing a divine feat of batsmanship
but an escape from a dreary and dull existence. In some ways watching Tendulkar bat was for a billion people a fulfilment of themselves. In some ways, in the satellite television era Tendulkar more than the afternoon matinee hero, the man who allowed India’s billion to surf their dreams.
.
The greatness of Tendulkar is that despite being subjected to such wild expectations he carried on with the business of scoring runs. Inspite of being part of a team that played during circket’s darkest hour, Tendulkar still played two innings at Sharjah against Australia in 1998 that was his own version of operation desert storm.
Remember that Lara who too faced enormous expectations almost fell away. Don’t forget that he too has had to go through his version of trial by fire. There have been times when he has just got away from the game and worse has had his own team mates say that he considers himself larger than the game.
True Dravid and Laxman have delivered when the team needed it most. Further, Sehwag and Gilchrist play with an abandon not witnessed in the history of the game. Where however were the expectations.?
Sachem Tendulkar unlike communism is not the god who failed but a man who has faced expectations never experienced in the history of sport. Despite this he has performed and well has retained his sanity cum humility. Don’t forget he came back to shoulder India’s burden in the 1999 world cup just after paying his last respects to his father. Greatness is not just about winning matches. For Sachin Tendulkar it has just been leading his life.
Article:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At sixteen he burst into a nation’s collective consciousness Sixteen years later, the nation is questioning whether he has the right to occupy that consciousness.
Today, as he grapples with injury and hears questions being asked about his legacy and indeed even if there is one, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar might be forgiven for thinking that he lives in an unfair world.
The knives are in many ways out for this man who the great Don Bradman said –reminds him of himself . Tendulkar is in many ways being asked to being prove himself all over again. The man who owns practically every record in the books ironically finds his greatness being questioned for precisely being buried under the weight of runs. Records are fine his critics say, but where are the match winning innings ? What is the use of the solo shows, when it did not translate into wins for the team?
Haven’t his contemporaries achieved more ? Lara at Barbados, Laxman at Kolkata and Dravid at Adelaide ? Further, how many times has Tendulkar pulled India out of trouble a la Dravid, played that defining knock Laxman knock or simply redefined batting like Lara?
Also, can this man display the bravado of a Sehwag or play with the abandon of a Gilchrist when the chips are down?
By the way is this guy as tough as Gavaskar.? Didn’t the original little master play better quality attacks especially the famed west Indian quartet and get runs by the ton.? Is this little man really as great as Vivian Richards ? Is the to be or not to be version of Tendulkar a patch on the king who reigned for much of the seventies and eighties.For that matter was he ever that great at all ?
Finally, isn’t this guy who gazes out of cola ads and plugs cell phones a pure creation of marketing hype? Have Sachin’s over enthusiastic spin doctors done the little man a disservice by creating a level of hype that perhaps helps him earn millions but also created the image of a fairy prince who was slated to lead the nation out of the cricketing morass it found itself in for a large part of his career but simply couldn’t?
Instead even while one associates a fairy tale victory to Mohammed Kaif and Yuvraj Singh like the Natwest trophy final at Lords in June 2002 the enduring memory of Tendulkar is perhaps that of the man who almost pulled it off against a rampant Pakistan at Chennai.. Indeed Chennai has in many come to characterise the Tendulkar cricketing story, runs for the man which couldn’t prevent ruins for the team..
There is merit in all these arguments. A Lara on song is probably the best batsman to have played the game after the Don. Dravid continuously redifines mental toughness while Laxman seems to conjure up the big one just when his team needs it the most.
At Kolkata his innings turned a series on its head, while his wand of courage in the last one dayer at Pakistan ensured that India beat its arch rivals in a series in their own backyard for the first time in history.
Further, it was Sehwag’s triple hundred that set the tone for the epoch making series win in Pakistan. Bowlers round the world have described Gilchrist as the most dangerous batsman in the world.
Certainly, Tendulkar has not faced the same quality of attacks that Gavaskar did. To be sure, Richards imposed himself on the facing some of the best bowlers in the history of the game in a way that Tendulkar hasn’t.
Make no mistake though. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is not just one of the all time greats of cricket but sport. No man in the history of sport has been subjected to the pressure of expectations that this man has been. For a billion Indians watching Tendulkar is not about witnessing one of the finest feats of batsmanship but an act of catharsis.
For a nation that has been perenially starved off heroes, watching Tendulkar was not about witnessing a divine feat of batsmanship
but an escape from a dreary and dull existence. In some ways watching Tendulkar bat was for a billion people a fulfilment of themselves. In some ways, in the satellite television era Tendulkar more than the afternoon matinee hero, the man who allowed India’s billion to surf their dreams.
.
The greatness of Tendulkar is that despite being subjected to such wild expectations he carried on with the business of scoring runs. Inspite of being part of a team that played during circket’s darkest hour, Tendulkar still played two innings at Sharjah against Australia in 1998 that was his own version of operation desert storm.
Remember that Lara who too faced enormous expectations almost fell away. Don’t forget that he too has had to go through his version of trial by fire. There have been times when he has just got away from the game and worse has had his own team mates say that he considers himself larger than the game.
True Dravid and Laxman have delivered when the team needed it most. Further, Sehwag and Gilchrist play with an abandon not witnessed in the history of the game. Where however were the expectations.?
Sachem Tendulkar unlike communism is not the god who failed but a man who has faced expectations never experienced in the history of sport. Despite this he has performed and well has retained his sanity cum humility. Don’t forget he came back to shoulder India’s burden in the 1999 world cup just after paying his last respects to his father. Greatness is not just about winning matches. For Sachin Tendulkar it has just been leading his life.
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