The family that made the difference!

He was Mumbai's brightest star; The next big thing happening to mumbai after the little master Sunil Gavaskar;Was often called the Vivian Richards of mumbai! It was on his stumps that the famed coach Ramakant Achrekar had placed a coin first - a sign in Mumbai cricket circles that you were the chosen one.No,No, you are wrong! He is not the now 'former' great Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. He is one Mr. Gurav Anil.

When the entire country was celebrating Sachin, Gurav was lying down far far away from the Wankhede.The smell of cheap alcohol rests around him, as do years of pain in his wild, staring glazed eyes. Where did it all go wrong? Some 25 years back his biggest fans were Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli. Sadly now, even his children don't talk to him. 

When Sachin in his farewell speech mentioned every single member of his family as the backbone of his success, Gurav was almost cursing his family. Ironically his brother was also named Ajit! Remember Ajit Tendulkar?

Ajit, Gurav's brother fell in to bad company and police were behind the entire Gurav family from then on. Life, took the wrong turn once his younger brother became the target of the police. Finally to distance himself from police he had to move away from his place! And sadly away from cricket. 

May be 'Gurrrrraaaaaav Gurraav' would have been a chant as well! Another cricketing hero could have won Bharat Ratna; could have become the cynosure of all eyes; It did not happen that way. And one major difference between Sachin and Gurav was the influence that institution called 'family' had on the two individuals.

I don't deny that there were other differences. It is said Gurav failed to score in an important match when the selectors were watching. He did not have the temperament to fight on. And there were many other factors as well. 

Yet, of course yet with a capital 'Y' it was the FAMILY, the real difference.

Sachinism! Thank you sachin!

I didn't want to write this. I told my dad I'm not going to write on sachin. There are literally hundreds of them writting and I didn't  want to repeat the cliche, "Thank you sachin"! But then, as always I decided to go with the flow than resist it.

Well, to me the greatest thing sachin has done to this country is to bring the smile back. After a hard days labour, after wrestling poverty and hunger, after muddling through chaotic traffic, the average Indian needed him to bring that sanity, bring that smile.And he did exactly that, for 24 long years.

The Hindus loved him as much as the Muslims did; The poor, the rich, the upper caste, the lowest of castes, the army men, the Bollywood stars, the prime ministers, the rickshaw wallahs! The sad reality of a divided India did not matter when sachin was at the crease. And again I say he brought them all smiles! Happiness!

I agree, the farewell went overboard; He overstayed his stay; there were other important things than a cricketer farewell. But then, what is life without a little joy and happiness? May be it is just a sport, may be cricket is taken too seriously in this country; yes, he is not god and failed so many times; yet if there was one man who had brought so much to this country then he deserves it all.

There was a saying "India slept well, when sachin scored a century!" And for that I salute him! And for that I repeat the cliche! "Thank you sachin".