SACHIN AT 52: Sachin Tendulkar is an emotion, a feeling, fans still enjoy it

What is about Sachin Tendulkar that, at 52, he is still remembered as a maestro, an icon, a legend with a mass connect. Almost 12 years after he last played his last Test match, the 200^th at the Wankhede Stadium against West Indies in Mumbai, Sachin still evokes interest, makes fans buy birthday cakes and cut it at home. No fiction this, if Sachin was a rage, he is still a craze. It will never go away.

A friend of mine, Ramji Srinivasan, a leading strength and conditioning expert based in Chennai told me a few months ago, he stopped watching cricket after Sachin’s retirement. I was puzzled, at first, and then tried to reason it out. Ramji has seen Sachin at his peak and is still in touch with him.

Yet, just as many Formula One fans said they will not watch racing after Ayrton Senna died or Michael Schumacher quit Ferrrari, such emotions can be understood. Sachin defined greatness and even today has that mass connect which transcends all barriers. For Ramji, watching cricket meant watching Sachin, even as he had worked with the Indian team in the past.

Is it right to even be so crazy about a man who is no longer an active cricketer? Well, Sachin is an emotion, a feeling, a genius who still means so much. For those statistically minded, the mountains of runs he piled on in Tests and ODI stand testimony to his concentration, perfection and hunger. Imagine, if someone like Virat Kohli bows before Sachin even today inside a packed stadium, what it means.

King Kohli, himself, is a legend, someone challenging himself and the world. At the same time, for the GOAT to respect Sachin is from the heart. So, if this is the adulation from one legend towards another, a common man will still go gaga over Sachin’s 52^nd birthday. Don’t be surprised if people still pray for him in religious places like a temple or church today. That is the lasting legacy left behind by Sachin. Long back, people marvelled the famous advertisement ‘’Sachin Aaye Re” put out by Pepsi. That ad still remains of the most iconic ones as it had that mass connect. Such nuggets on Sachin occupies Gigabytes in our brain memory, at random.

For old school, SMG (Sunny Gavaskar) was God of cricket, then came Sachin Tendulkar. You can love so many things about Sachin, his stance, his demeanor, his smile, how he behaves. If that was something like a blast from the past, Sachin still has a connect with the younger fans as well. Proof of it comes through videos of Sachin viewed. The problem is, such a large treasure trove of memories are still in place, you can spend years dissecting it.

And yet, even two months back, when Sachin shows up in the International Masters Cricket League and produces breath-taking shots at the age of 51, he looks so solid. He has worked on his body, his fitness, his skills, his game. Why? He cannot fritter away gifts given by God. I know at least a few youngsters who watched the Masters League and raved about Sachin. That bullet straight drive whistling its way in the carpet into the billboards is still a classic execution.

Back to Sachin and how be stays fit, the work he puts in is massisve. See his face, he still looks so fresh, as if he is still that same bubbly boy who made his debut in 1989 against Pakistan in Pakistan. So, memories do come back from the past as Sachin had conquered each cricket outpost in the world.

What Sachin did will stay etched in memory forever, including massive celebration at the Wankhede Stadium in April 2011 when India won the ICC World Cup, ODI format. Like a kid holding a toy even while falling asleep, Sachin posed with that World Cup. He had, after all, realised a lifetime dream.

This is the IPL season, and as someone still close to the Mumbai Indians, Sachin knows what is going around. There is so much bickering among former greats in cricket today. When they are on air, they will try and pull down someone or the other. No, not Sachin, he is away from all this lousy stuff. Commentary has become so commercial, an original like SRT will never take it up as a job to earn a livelihood. He doesn’t need to, really.

And the best part, if people in 40s love Sachin, even teenagers watch his videos even today. As for Ramji Srinivasan, he trains cricketers and many more athletes from other disciplines, but he won’t go to watch IPL matches! Love affair, respect, or Sachin hangover! I am still trying to figure it out.