When One Billion Sang In Unison

It is one thing to know important history from before your lifetime. I agree it is even more exciting to know that some important history was made during your lifetime . But it is entirely an out of the world experience to live through a moment,  which created history, of which you had always dreamt of, all along your life.Along with a billion others. To witness history's plans unfold in front of you, with all its teasing of your logic and hope and patience, all the way till it actually manifests, is enthralling.

I will tell you exactly what happens. Words don't flow to start with . Photographic memory is on an all time high. The senses are soaking up every noise , smell, emotion, sight, touch they can pounce upon. The mind goes haywire in trying to record the incident, but it gives up after infinite efforts to give a correct reaction, due to the enormity of the moment. It understands that silence is the best way to shout. And sometime later, the silence erupts.

This is exactly what indeed happened when team India, won the cricket world cup on April 2nd, 2011. The nation was probably never more united since the freedom struggle. For my generation, this was probably the only time it came close to witnessing what it is to be united in thought with each and every person of the nation. The rich, the poor, the Hindus, the Muslims, the fans, the casual followers. It was like the whole nation had the same heartbeat.

And it beat for one man. One man who has struggled and fought , fallen and stood up again, to take his nation to the heights of glory in a sport, that has defined him. Or a sport which he defined. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.  His glorious matches can be recounted, his contributions can be analysed, his effect on the masses can be wondered at, his dedication to his profession can be envied at and his simplicity through his growth can only be seen as an unachievable virtue. But today,we speak about  a payback that happened. Fate owed it to him, his share of happiness, and his share of dreams. And fate gave it to him today.

You see, we Indians are really simple creatures. We like drama. We like a protagonist in it , who gives us happiness. Who plays a role which we would like to play in real life. And we like the protagonist to win. We wish he never fails, but we relate to him more if he does. But we also want the protagonist to have his dream in the end. So when, in a life story of an protagonist , he takes a long time to achieve his due, we get hurt. We pray for him. Our hearts go out for him. We want life to be fair to him, in spite of our own lives being thrown apart in the practicalities of world's unfairness.We swear to leave no stone unturned until fate is fair to him. . 

Some movie lines cross my mind. They seemed to be made exactly for today. " ..Itni shiddat se maine tumhe paane ki koshish ki hai ,  ki har zarre ne mujhe tumse milane ki sazhish ki hai....kehte hai agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaaho toh poori kaynath tumhein usse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai...." .When one billion wish for something, reality has but no choice than to submit to the drama. And so, we Indians, we cry when we see the protagonist cry. We stand up when he walks to hold the cup. We clap even if we are not part of the crowd. We make an unconscious salute. We imagine theme music playing while he takes his dream walk. May be the music is really playing somewhere. 

May be this is really what it means to be an Indian. To throw the cares to the wind, and throng the streets chanting ,screaming , celebrating. To do weird superstitious things so that the protagonist's dream comes true.Believing that they work. Simple things really which makes us happy. 

Today's script was not a fairytale. SRT did not perform. But it was not any less magical. He played a big role in getting us here. Not just this world cup. His journey started 22 years ago. The Indian team has been often accused of being a one man team. May be, the greatest gift Sachin could give India, was that he leaves the team as a "team", where everyone today fought to get him his due. They all played together. Virat Kohli couldn't have said it better. " He has carried the burden of the entire nation for 22 years. Its time we carried him on our shoulders". 

Hats off to Dhoni. To end a 28 year old drought with a six - speechless !. Hats off to everyone else too. Today, not just SRT, not just the Indian cricket team, but the entire nation will sleep slightly more peacefully. Because, no one really realized, when and how in the past, the future and happiness of the nation, and winning  the world cup got intertwined.

And so, the final played out in a way, that was worthy of a "Mein Samay.. " narration. Today was the most exciting day of the cricketer in me. The fan in me. The patriot in me. The sportsman in me. The drama lover in me. Even if I am half as excited on my wedding night as I am today, I could be called a good husband . There is celebration in every nook and corner of my city. It must be some bad karma, that I am not on the streets with my countrymen today. But some good karma must be accounted for as well, because, similar to like they said in the movie Troy , "I lived in the times of Sachin, I lived to witness today..".

Dreams often come true

The chosen ones

Had purchased this shirt sometime ago, in hope for today. Wore it once. Will never wear it again. All present together to watch this moment left their marks on it. 

Nachiket Mehta
April 2, 2011