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!
