Time has come!

The time has finally come… it had probably had quite some time back… it’s just that we didn’t acknowledge. After all we are mere mortals. Greatness is not easy for all to fathom and digest especially for those who are miles away from it. Instead we relish in our endeavors to crush the spirit of the genius. We look for faults where none exist and conveniently sidestep all that really matters.

I talk of one Mr. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. As he completes 20 glorious years, we still don’t grant him what was always his. Perhaps it doesn’t matter to him. Perhaps he is above all of it. What if he really is God as his supporters like to believe? We may never know. But after yesterday Tendulkar is no longer one of the best batsmen in the world. He is the best and by a huge margin. The Laras and Pontings of the world are not even close and the reason is clear - Sachin is out of the world.

Statistics and records overwhelming as they won’t even begin to do justice to the phenomena called “Sachin”. For starters, can numbers ever replace smiles?

Close your eyes and try to visualize his best innings. Remember the joy you felt every time he found gaps in the field when it seemed none existed, when he made a good ball look ordinary by depositing it across the ropes, when you suddenly saw him on 80 * and it seemed like he had scored a half century just a minute ago, when he played the most cheeky shot around and beamed as if he had won a lottery, when he ran twos ( for his partner) on a tired pair of legs, when he made the opposition look hapless and totally beaten. Now realize that around a billion people felt pretty much the same way and you can begin to realize his importance in our lives.

Do a similar exercise for the time he got out and we lost.

A nation laughs or cries depending on a split second decision he takes while batting.

We talk of Gandhi and Mother Teresa and how they uplifted the masses. Sachin does much the same as he wields his willow on the field. It’s just that we don’t realize. Sachin has given us a reason to dream and dream big. Remember the India when he started playing and compare it with the India of today. So much progress has happened and yet the fact that he remains our ultimate role model is no coincidence. With every boundary he has scored, with every record that has come his way, he has lifted the collective morale of a nation.

The crown of the world’s best batsmen no longer matters. Sachin is already past that.

We may not see the halo around him but its indeed time to bow to the Lord!

Even Sir Donald Bradman will agree!