Playing it My Way
[From Sachin Tendulkar’s Autobiography]
On the occasion of our cricketing legend the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar’s birthday today, me thought of doing a book review of his autobiography titled, Playing it My Way, that he has co-authored with Boria Majumdar.
Sachin Tendulkar played cricket for 24 years and retired in 2013. In this book, published in 2014, Sachin talks about his journey from his first Test match at the age of 16 to his 100th international century and the final farewell. He was awarded India's highest civilian honour, Bharat Ratna Award, interestingly, on the day of his retirement.
The blurb to his autobiography says –
The most celebrated Indian cricketer of all time, he received the Bharat Ratna Award – India’s highest civilian honour – on the day of his retirement. Now Sachin Tendulkar tells his own remarkable story – from his first Test cap at the age of 16 to his 100th international century and the emotional final farewell that brought his country to a standstill.
When a boisterous Mumbai youngster’s excess energies were channelled into cricket, the result was record-breaking schoolboy batting exploits that launched the career of a cricketing phenomenon. Before long Sachin Tendulkar was the cornerstone of India’s batting line-up, his every move watched by a cricket-mad nation’s devoted followers.
Never had a cricketer been burdened with so many expectations; never has a cricketer performed at such a high level for so long and with such style – scoring more runs and making more centuries than any other player, in both Tests and one-day games. And perhaps only one cricketer could have brought together a shocked nation by defiantly scoring a Test century shortly after terrorist attacks rocked Mumbai.
His many achievements with India include winning the World Cup and topping the world Test rankings. Yet he has also known his fair share of frustration and failure – from injuries and early World Cup exits to stinging criticism from the press, especially during his unhappy tenure as captain.
Despite his celebrity status, Sachin Tendulkar has always remained a private man, devoted to his family and his country. Now, for the first time, he provides a fascinating insight into his personal life and gives a frank and revealing account of a sporting life like no other,
says the blurb to the book.
There are quite a lot of takeaways for the discerning reader from his autobiography. Will share just a few of them.
On Confidence
One of the most prominent words that we find in his Autobiography would be the word, ‘confidence’ that occurs almost 50 times throughout the book.
‘We had every reason to feel confident’, or
‘We were silently confident of reaching the steep
target of 325’,
or
‘I replied with confidence!’
On Respect
The word ‘respect’ occurs almost two dozen times in his Autobiography.
Right from chapter one, where he talks about the high respects he had for his father,
Or the respect he has for his wife Anjali, or the respect he has for his opponents,
Or his respects for the game of Cricket,
Or his respect for the pitch, ‘It was only right to thank the pitch for everything and do namaskar (offer my respects)’.
Or respects for his guru Achrekar Sir,
Or showing respect to his Nation,
And finally, respect for his fans,
He feels that respect and credibility always go together.
On Appreciation
Next in line comes the word, appreciation!
Be it his appreciation for his wife, or appreciating his opponents, or his fans, the legend was always ahead! He calls them ‘tokens of appreciation’!
“Anjali took over the home front, allowing me to continue with my cricket, and I will always appreciate the sacrifice she made very early in our lives”.
Fondly recollecting the delightful day his daughter Sara was born, he says,
I asked permission from the hospital authorities to stay with Anjali in her room. I simply did not want to leave my wife and daughter alone.
While I knew that they were in good hands, I wanted to be with them the whole time. They were only too kind and suggested that, while there wasn’t an extra bed for me, I could stay in the same room as Anjali and they were happy to provide a mattress, which was placed on the floor. That was fine with me and I will always appreciate their help.
Sara, according to everyone who saw her, was a carbon copy of me and I loved the act of putting her to sleep in my arms. I would just rock her for a couple of minutes and she would go off to sleep. I had a beard then and once she was a few months old I would place her on my lap and brush her hair with it. It was a favourite father–daughter pastime and something both of us loved to do every day.
Ravi and I have always been good friends and in Nagpur we had dinner in my room and he repeatedly told me that I should not start to doubt myself after a few failures. His confidence in me was reassuring and I greatly appreciated the gesture.
He calls them ‘tokens of appreciation’
Other Words of Positivity
Other positive words like cheering, happiness, warmth, friendliness, encouragement, making others proud, sense of optimism, feeling positive all the time, etc., abound all through the book.
And he openly comes out with his antagonism towards Greg Chappell, the Indian Cricket coach then, for not respecting the Captain Rahul Dravid!
“I was surprised to hear the coach not showing the slightest amount of respect for the captain”, with cricket’s biggest tournament just months away”.
“In my opinion, Indian cricket benefited significantly when the BCCI decided to end Chappell’s tenure in April 2007. Several of our senior players were relieved to see him go, which was hardly surprising because, for reasons hard to comprehend, he had not treated them particularly fairly. His attitude to Sourav, for example, was astonishing”, says Sachin.
He also has abundant words of appreciation for most of his fellow players!
Although there are very interesting incidents all through the book, I would just highlight the most important ones, especially from his personal front that he has mentioned in his autobiography!
The rest of the book, especially his cricket part, where the Little Master Blaster has described matches to the most intricate detail, sometimes even ball by ball, I guess those snippets are for you to relish it for yourself.
Sachin begins his autobiography by quoting from his father’s valuable words of advice for him…
‘Son, life is like a book. It has numerous chapters. It also has many a lesson in it.’
Life resembles a pendulum too! A pendulum in which success and failure, joy and sorrow are merely extremes of the central reality. The lessons to be learnt from success and failure are equally important. More often than not, failure and sorrow are bigger teachers than success and happiness.
I am asking you, son, to keep a pleasant disposition and maintain a balanced nature. Do not allow success to breed arrogance in you. If you remain humble, people will give you love and respect even after you have finished with the game. As a parent, I would be happier hearing people say, “Sachin is a good human being” than “Sachin is a great cricketer” any day.’
My father’s words, which I often heard while growing up, encapsulate my life’s philosophy.
On his Parents
My father, Ramesh Tendulkar, was an acclaimed Marathi poet, critic and professor, while my mother, Rajani, worked for the Life Insurance Corporation of India.
Humility and modesty were their hallmarks and I owe a lot of my personality to my upbringing. Despite all my unreasonableness and all the embarrassments I caused them, my parents never gave up on me.
In fact, I have often wondered just how they managed to cope with such a naughty child.
Though he must have been pushed to the limits sometimes, my father would never shout at me and was always patient when dealing with my mischief.
On his Mother in Particular
My mother made the most delicious dishes - fish and prawn curry, lentils and rice, for us at home, and I owe my appetite and love of food to her. I fondly remember lying on her lap after eating delicious home-cooked meals, as she sang the most beautiful songs while trying to get me off to sleep. Listening to her while dozing off at the end of the day instilled in me a love for music that has remained with me to this day.
On his brothers
My brothers, Nitin and Ajit, have always backed me in my endeavours and, on the cricket side, I owe a lot to Ajit, who is ten years older than me and was a good club cricketer himself but decided to sacrifice his own career to help me achieve my potential.
My eldest brother, Nitin, easily the most creative of the siblings, was the strict disciplinarian in the Tendulkar household and helped rein in my exuberance when my mother had almost given up on me. He not only sketches really well, but is also an accomplished writer and poet and has recently written songs for a movie.
On his Sister Savita
Savita, my sister, gave me my first cricket bat. She travelled to Kashmir for a holiday when I was five and brought me back a Kashmir willow bat. She is easily the calmest of the siblings and has a very reserved and composed demeanour. She stays unruffled in difficult situations and we often consulted her on critical matters while growing up.
Prankster Sachin
In my growing-up years, there was a great deal of construction work taking place in the place we stayed. This gave me and my friends the opportunity to play quite a few pranks on our neighbours. While we were never violent and never caused bodily harm to others, I’m ashamed to admit we sometimes enjoyed having a laugh at the expense of other members of the colony. For us it was fun, plain and simple, but looking back at some of the mischief we got up to now is rather embarrassing.
One of our regular tricks was to dig a deep hole in the sand left behind by the contractors and cover it with newspapers before disguising it with sand. Then we’d deliberately lure people to walk over it. As they sank into the crater, we’d be in fits of laughter. Another was to pour water on unsuspecting passers-by from our apartment on the fourth floor, and I remember that feasting on mangoes picked from trees we weren’t supposed to touch was also a favourite pastime.
On his Wife Anjali
As I was trying to establish myself as an international cricketer, my personal life changed dramatically in August 1990 when I met Anjali, my future wife. It was the beginning of by far the best partnership of my life.
I had just landed in Mumbai on our return from the 1990 tour of England and was waiting to pick up my bags when I first saw an extremely attractive woman looking down from the viewing gallery in the airport. Little did I know then that I had just seen my life partner. She was standing with a friend of hers, Dr Aparna Santhanam, now a well-known dermatologist in Mumbai. We had fleeting eye contact and then she disappeared.
The next I saw of the two of them was when I was making my way out of the airport. I spotted Anjali, dressed in an orange T-shirt and blue jeans, running out of the gate, apparently chasing after me. That was not all, because she soon started yelling, ‘He is sooooo cute!’ I felt awkward and started to blush, as I knew both Ajit and Nitin were waiting outside to take me home.
Anjali and I courted each other for five years between 1990 and 1995, a commitment that led to engagement and finally marriage.
We got engaged on 24 April 1994, which also happened to be my twenty-first birthday. The engagement party was a low-key affair with family and close friends and was held at Anjali’s family’s house at Warden Road, Breach Candy, in South Mumbai. It was an occasion of great significance in our lives and we will always remember the joy we felt.
Our families were delighted at the union and it marked a whole new beginning for me. We finally tied the knot on 25 May 1995. Anjali Mehta had become Anjali Tendulkar and I entered a new phase in my life.
I Will Play
Although there are very many interesting incidents connected with his playing all through the book, I would just highlight one particular incident from one of his very early matches -
It Was the Fourth Test, Sialkot, 9–14 December 1989
“The wicket was green, but the December weather was also heavy, resulting in a lot of early-morning fog. This meant the four Pakistani fast bowlers could come at us all day, hoping to roll us over and secure the upper hand Waqar was bowling from one end and it was absolutely essential to survive the initial burst”.
“I had just scored my first run when Waqar bowled a short delivery, which I expected would rise chin-high. I misjudged the bounce of the ball. It rose six inches higher than expected and hit me on the flap of my helmet before deflecting and hitting my nose. At the time I was the only batsman besides Srikkanth not to wear a grille”.
“My vision was blurred and my head felt heavy. But again, going off would suggest I was scared. And truly I wasn’t. It wasn’t the first time I had been hit, though the impact was much more severe than anything I had suffered before. I decided to carry on and said, (I will play.) It was important for my own self-esteem, and by staying in I felt I had made a statement to the opposition”.
His Farewell Speech
The last part of his autobiography carries his memorable farewell speech that he delivered at the Wankhede stadium, Mumbai on 16 November 2013!
“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, and also say that time has flown by rather quickly, but the memories that you have left with me will always be with me for ever and ever, especially ‘Sachin, Sachin’. That will reverberate in my ears … till I stop breathing. Thank you very much. If I’ve, if I’ve missed out on saying something, missed out on a few names, I hope you understand. Goodbye”.
Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
16 November 2013
signs off, the legendary god of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar!
Here’s wishing the ultimate superstar of cricket Sachin Tendulkar, the Little Master a very happy birthday on his 48th birthday today!
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