Tendulkar and a Billion Hopes

To Tendulkar. And to his art that gives a Nation the reason to believe in miracles.
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The crafts of the greatest of the greats have found brilliance in the light of the tragedies and madness that they lived with. Sachin Tendulkar is no exception.

For what would Vincent Van Gogh be without his string of tragedies and a lost ear? His paintings, will not have been the masterpieces had it not been drawn with the colors of his tragedy. History has it that Van Gogh had a very disturbing personal life. He and Gauguin forged a deep friendship during the two years they lived and painted as neighbors in Arles, in the south of France. The two had built the town's reputation as an artistic colony. That dream ended in an angry exchange between the painters on the evening of Dec. 23, 1888. As that story goes, van Gogh cut off part of his own ear with a straight razor after he and Gauguin parted. Bleeding heavily, van Gogh then wrapped it in cloth, walked to a nearby bordello and presented the severed ear to a prostitute, who fainted when he handed it to her.

Then there was Beethoven. When he was ten, Beethoven had gained fame for his work throught Europe. That is when tragedy struck: he began to lose his hearing. At first, he was only slightly deaf. Later however, the whole realm of sound was completely lost. Most people would have given up. What good is a musician with no sense of hearing? But Beethoven did not let that stop him. Although he closed himself off people, his connections with music were truly unbreakable. He was in a sense of close denial, taking walks in the woods to get away from people and to get closer to nature. Now was a point when Beethoven composed for his own love, rather than for a career. He heard music with his inner ear now. Instead of halting Beethoven’s thoughts of musical creation, it allowed him to discover new dimensions of music, to see music as a necessity of life, not as an ornament. One of the most amazing pieces of his works, his nine symphonies, is like a timeline of his life and a timeline of music.

Closer home, even though Mirza Ghalib spread love, beauty and happiness all around, his own life was filled with moments of despair and tragedy. His most beautiful works were written when he was at his lowest ebb - at the loss of a loved adopted child. He suffered from a drinking problem; financial difficulties as well as pains of old age – some of the ingredients that led to his great couplets.

The list would go on and on, but it would all bring us to one single fact. These people without compare stood on the unscalable pedestal only because of their tragedies. Tendulkar’s tragedy lies in his passion to win a game and standing tall amidst the ruins when all the warriors have failed. Like the story of Troy, where Hector stands tall against the might of Archilles, it was Tendulkar who stood against the might of the opponents. And in the resulting defeat, we have seen the fallen rise above the victorious.

Going a few years back to the test match in Chennai where on the verge of defeat, India found a partnership going in the fourth innings in Nayan Mongia and Tendulkar. India, by then had almost lost the match against Pakistan, and people were slowly moving out of the stadium. In the hours that followed, we saw a game that seemed scripted by God with Tendulkar in the lead. India, riding on his century, was just 18 runs from victory when he got out. The rest, you might recollect, was a tension filled 20 minutes when India finally surrendered. Wasim Akram said, there was Pakistan and there was Tendulkar standing before their victory. And although, Pakistan won, it was actually Tendulkar, who, history would remember as the hero of the day.

Tendulkar cried that night, and did not come to the presentation ceremony to take his Man of the Match award. His agony in this loss was to come out in a masterful display of batting in the time to come.

2008 – 15th Dec: Just three weeks after the deadly attacks on Mumbai which rocked India and put the England tour of India in doubt, Tendulkar scored an unbeaten century to give the hosts a historic victory over England. Tendulkar, in his 19th year in Test cricket, played perhaps his greatest innings as India completed the fourth-highest run chase of all time. And he did that by ensuring that he remained at the crease till the very end. That was perhaps a lesson that he had learned from the Chennai test match, to see India through.

Yesterday’s loss was yet another drama which had a climax that lasted the entire second innings. And the architect of that climax was Tendulkar alone. He kept an entire billion glued to their seats with hope and awe. Everyone, from children who go to sleep at 8.30 PM, to housewives who have a habit of watching the 9 PM soaps, to the chaat-wala at Juhu chowpatty, to the guy trying to catch a night flight were keeping a tab on the score. And it was not even a world cup match. Such is the admiration and belief that a country holds in that diminutive man. And yet, when India lost, the emotions on the face of this man were that of a child who has lost his favorite marbles. The equations in the end were simple. Australia won. India lost. But the match was glorified by the innings of Tendulkar. The tragedy of his glory amidst the ruins of a shattered billion hopes would be etched in history. And from this tragedy will be born a billion more hopes, and an innings of a greater victory where India wins. Let’s hope it comes in the final of the 2011 World Cup.

To Tendulkar. And to his art that gives a Nation the reason to believe in miracles.