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..".
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| Dreams often come true |
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| The chosen ones |
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| 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
