Sach - in Cricket...... Sach is Life !!!

It was a regular busy day for me at work & it was already afternoon, when I was helping myself to the first cup of coffee for the day. It was around 2.35pm & the TV screen at the pantry was beaming the cricket ODI between India & South Africa. Pure love for the game, made me stop & watch for a few minutes. It was only the 2nd over of the match & Parnell was steaming into Sachin. A deft jab on the offside & the ball raced to the mid off fence & immediately after that, the next delivery was flicked from outside the offstump to the midwicket boundary. It was sheer class, & exquisite timing. One could only gape with awe & blink!!! I along with others around commented, "looks like a big one from Sachin!!"......
Through the afternoon, Iwas busy at work & could not sneak in to watch the proceedings of the match & probably missed history being created, as Sachin became the first ever to scale 200 runs in an ODI innings in cricket. In the process, he also overtook the previous highest individual score of 194, notched by Saeed Anwar against India..... a record that has been like a sore thumb to millions of Indian cricket lovers over the years.
A double century in ODIs has been myth that has now been broken..... a dream that has finally come true.

Watching the highlights of the game late evening, I saw how the whole stadium & surely the whole cricketing fraternity across the world had become one with the Lord of Cricket....the Truth of Cricket...... The Sach - in Cricket.... Sachin Tendulkar !! Probably in the same pedestal as Don Bradman.... in terms of sheer class, in terms of sheer statistics, in terms of pure magic.

Sachin seems to have hit a purple patch & probably one of the best in his career, now spanning over 20 years. He is playing unbelievable cricket & a quick glance at his batting prowess over the last one year would reveal that. Interestingly this comes in the wake of what the so called cricket experts have been saying about him !!!
The famous Chappell brothers down under(Ian & Greg) had clearly said a couple of years back, " ODIs demand extreme physical fitness & is a game of the youth. Its high time Sachin realises this & retires from ODIs". The Aussies & other such proponents of youth, physical fitness & power, have been tomtoming this theory for quite some time now.
Yes, fitness & youth rules the ODI & the shorter version of the game, but there can never ever be any substitute to class or technical skills & Sachin demonstrated that once again.
While most cricketers have hung their boots way before they reached 37 years of age, Sachin seems to be going on & on. It indeed is a tribute to his tenacious capabilities to last the whole of 50 overs, face just 147 deliveries to reach the 200 mark !!!! The only other batsman in the current generation, who has ever looked likely to scale the 200 mark is our own Virender Sehwag.....only if he lasts the whole of 50 overs or therebaouts !!!!

My direct question to the Chappell brothers & similar cricketing pundits around the world is that, Sachin today, withstood the whole of 50 overs in batting & still came back to field the SA innings, he fought the cramps, but batted without a runner. All this against the formidable Proteas, who are one of the best ODI teams in the world currently. This innings was not a flash in the pan......he has been consistently scoring & scaling over so many years.......do we still have to question his fitness & endurance to withstand the rigors of ODIs???? Or is it pure jealousy at an Indian beating the others hollow????
This is Sachin's 46th ODI hundred, more than 17000 ODI runs, already 47 test centuries along with more than 13000 test runs & still counting........where will this run machine stop!!!!
Did Saurav retire a tad too early??? ....hehehehe...many such questions keep floating in....

May the 'Sach - in Cricket' scale more heights.....as a dreamer, I would like to believe that soon enough, he scales Brian Lara's 400 in tests, wins the upcoming World Cup for us & many more... Arguably the best brand ambassador of the game today, no one could be more deserving than Sachin to achieve this milestone.
The ever smiling childlike face, which displays emotions & passions of a teenager seems sure of decimating any attack ahead & breaking further records........
Way to go Sachin........Life has just about begun......You make us all Indians, realy really proud!!!

All is in the well !!!!...hehehehe

Sometimes in life everything you do seems to end up on the wrong side......whether its your efforts on some work, your expectations from something or someone, your life in general, others behaviour towards you,....almost anything & everything in life around you, just seems to be Out of Control !!!!....and the mind within screams.....Life's a bitch!!!!!

We all go through highs & lows in life......these are patches which get us excited or pull us down regularly. What is frustrating, I guess is the inability to handle the uncertainities that the life presents. We live in anticipation....... aniticipation of things to go the way we want it!!!! Some times there are pleasant surprises & sometimes there are rude shocks. But uncertainities continue none the less. Each one of us look forward to the future with an anticipation that things will work out well, even if there are inklings of failures. We seem to be comfortable taking pleasant surprises as a happening, but the opposite of the same gets a heart rendering response.... as if life has been cruel....really cruel !!!!

Somehow, the mind is just not ready to accept failures. Over the years, it has been conditioned to expect only the good. This despite the fact that most of the times our expectations have met with moderate or low successes. Most of us, in our experiences, have more shocks than pleasant surprises to speak of. The immediate reaction to a loss or failure is that of disbelief & frustrated anger. We just dont seem to learn from our experiences as far as anticipation is concerned. We still anticipate in positive......just believing that somehow, the results will turn in our favour. Fervent prayers rattle in the mind; promises to drive improvement within reiterates;.....all this to try & shut out niggles of negative thoughts!!!!! Look at a student for example, who has not prepared well for the exams......he prays to God, " Please please please take care & pass me this time God,.....I promise to put more efforts next time & do well. Next time I will not disappoint you!!!" A classic case of anticipating a Divine intervention to take place, despite the possibility of the worst to happen. We all live in this kind of an unreal world.
Its a strange dichotomy that pervades. On one side we doubt what is positive, we are unsure of success, but, at the same time we are unable to absorb failures. We live in anticipation...we live in hope.....we live in expectation of a miracle to take place.

Each one of us make our individual choices in life, that determines the course of our life journey. As human beings, we have been blessed with the power of choice. But seldom, we try & understand or fathom the power that this gives us !!
We are so accustomed to living in the unreal world.....a world of fanciful dreams & expectations, that we fail to explore & channelise this power called 'Choice'.

Personally, I have a simple rhetoric, "Hua toh achha, nahi hua to aur achha!!!" ( translated in english it means, "if it happens for you, its good; if it does not happen for you, also good..maybe better !!!"). It somehow helps me address the various challenges that life puts up, but it that enough????

All this, leads me to muse...to think......what is life!!!...where is it heading to ???
Reflecting back, at times I think, how a simple college life that we enjoyed, the masti, the movies, the magic that was, has slowly faded into a strict professional life.....where there's a constant struggle to perform & out perform. To look at colleagues & clients & professionals around with guarded caution.
How a simple 50 rupees pocket money in college had challenges of what to buy & what not to buy, but we would still enjoy a plate of samosas between five-six friends, devouring even the last crumbs. Today it has changed to a fat monthly salary, increasing the buying potentail, but satisfaction of a purchase is probably missing. Today, we sit & order large meals, but leave behind food to be trashed....guess the hunger & the desire to enjoy food has gone down.
How those days, a borrowed bicycle evolved to a bike in perpetual reserve has today changed to an airconditioned car....but there are less places to go.
How a roadside tea stall serving 'cutting chai' has changed to a CCD, but less reasons to enjoy the hot brew.
How a general class journey in a rickety unkempt train compartment has changed to a flight, but very few vacations to enjoy.

Is this the life we are living? Is this the life we are striving & struggling for??...... the answers lie in each of us to reflect.....to observe.....to qualify !!!!

Frankly, like in 3 Idiots, we all say "All is well", & carry on, when in real, its actually, "All is in the well!!!"