Wednesday, 24th Feb, 2010
I did my best to get back home to catch the moment that was of magnanimous proportions. Alas, I missed it. Nevertheless, following Sachin's innings on my mobile from the start of the 40th over was nerve-wrecking and exciting. Just to make sure that the luck doesn't change, I kept playing the same song over and over again on my mobile.
About Sachin, well, no matter how much is written about him, it just can't be enough, can it? Yet another feat; first double hundred in an ODI since its inception 39 years ago and who better, to accomplish it, than the greatest servant of Cricket himself. There have been instances in the recent past, where he has come very close to achieving it and now that he has eclipsed it, makes me feel as if I've achieved something big, and I'm sure that is exactly how most of the cricket lovers must be feeling right now, a feeling of achieving something personal.
Watching him bat is almost like watching a small child at play, full of exuberance and unwavering concentration. And when someone with that kind of commitment achieves something, it puts a smile on our face. This is probably why what Sachin does on the field matters a lot to us, may be not as much as it used to during the 90's when he burdened the hopes of an entire nation without much support from his mediocre team-mates, but nevertheless, Indian cricket still, very largely, banks on his performances.
So, what is it that keeps this man, who is 36 years and 306 days old, going? More than anything else, I think it is his passion and the love for what he does. The man was born to play Cricket, that is what he does and that is what he has been doing for past 20 years and how!
Despite of the fact that he is a genius, his immense respect for the game and professionalism in his approach to it is admirable and his undying hunger to achieve things, at an age where most of us would be considering a retirement no matter what our profession is, is simply astonishing. And it says a lot about the character of the man. It is the kind of character that will be respected world over. That's the thing with great people, isn't it? It isn't so much about what they do; it is more about how they go about their business.
The more we watch Sachin bat, the more we get to know him and about the character of the man and the more we get to know him, the more we respect, admire and love him.
During the early part of the last decade, most kids wanted to play like Sachin and now, I bet most people want to be like Sachin, passionate and committed to their work. I certainly want to be like him. What you've done for us is service. And for that Sir, I bow down and thank you. You truly are a national hero.
Sachin's retirement is inevitable. And when it comes that, what do you think will be a greater loss, removing Sachin from Cricket? Or removing Cricket from Sachin? I think its the latter.
Thursday, 11th Feb, 201020:00 hrs – Panic strikes! Harish (with the phone in his hand and beads of sweat on his brow): “Mom, I had campus recruitments. I finished my technical interview at noon today. I waited till 7:00 PM and assumed that they were not going to announce the results today and so, I came back home. My friend tells me now that I cleared the technical interview. I have the HR interview pending. I need to get back to the college within the hour”. Mom (to me): “What are you staring at me for? You’re the driver here. What is the point in feeding you every day if you can’t serve us during emergencies? So what if the emergency is consequence of your brother’s ignorance” This is what she had on her mind. However, she chose her words carefully and what she had on her mind transcended subtly into “Naveen, can you please drive him to his college?”
Well, so much for my planning for a nice and quiet evening. 20:15 hrs – You must be kidding mom!
Mom: “Boys, dinner is ready. Have some before you leave.”
Only she can come up with something as audacious during a crunch situation. Come on ma, someone here is trying to take his first step towards planning his dinner for the rest of his life. New Horizon College of Engineering (NHCE) Although I’ve lived in Bangalore all my life, I’d never heard of Marathalli until I joined the NHCE back in 2001. The outer ring road, which was relatively new back then, didn’t have a single signal for the entire stretch and not as many as half the speed breakers as now existed back then. The KR Puram cable/hanging bridge wouldn’t be completed until the latter half of 2002. There were no buildings apart from the college for many a mile. Where there are IT companies now, there were what looked like ignored stretch of land once used for cultivation. The campus itself wasn’t all that big. Since 2001 was when NHCE was established, apart from few fellow engineering, BBM, BCA and MCA students, the campus looked mostly deserted. 20:50 hrs – Astonishment I didn’t expect the college to look exactly the way it did in 2005 when I last set my foot inside the campus. Sure, I’d expected to see few new buildings, but what I saw there was mind-blowing. The auditorium, the students’ clubs, the indoor games room, more hostel rooms, more bakeries. It looked like the college had been overhauled completely. 21:00 hrs – Long night ahead The HR interview had begun. Lots of kids were awaiting their turn. Harish filled up his form and settled down in the hall with his friends. That the interviews would go on well into the night was expected. I had to find myself a company. Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan was appointed as the placement manager at the eleventh hour, the man for the crisis when everyone else had failed to do the job miserably. 2004-2005 was a tough year for most of us from NHCE. The college was still relatively new, and we didn’t pin our hopes high on campus recruitments. A year later, some of us found out that getting a job off campus was sheer thrill. Four years down the line, things have changed significantly. Graduates are walking out of NHCE with at least a job each. I wanted to find out how the college managed to do that. I walked up to Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan and got myself introduced. 23:15 hrs – The canteen Harish was done with his interviews and so were most people. The final few were waiting for their turn. Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan wanted to pick up the souvenir he’d got for the HR representative from his office and I joined him. On our way to his office, we came by the NHCE canteen. It was the best place in the entire campus back then and it probably still is. I have a lot of fond memories of this place. The “gang lunch” stands out particularly. Akash’s and Uday’s lunch, unlike Mukesh’s, Vishwa’s and my boring lunch (sorry ma), were a real treat to the tummy; toasted bread, cheese & butter sandwiches and rolls. All of us would wait for Udi and Aka to open up their boxes and pounce on it. We used to finish the lunch off in a jiffy. Uday, very smartly, used moved to a corner and grab a piece before he brought his box out in the open. Girls called us the “Dog gang” and I don’t blame them. We did look like street dogs fighting for food. By the way, Sreelatha’s home-made rava-idlies were very tasty and special too.
It was disappointing to learn that the canteen would soon be brought down. Sad! 00:30 hrs – Ecstasy and pain The results were out. Seventy nine out of the ninety were positive. Lots of happy and excited faces yet, there were a few who didn’t make it through. I felt sorry for one pretty girl who broke down completely. Pretty girls always break down easily, don’t they? Why? Or do I find girls pretty when they cry? I’m going no further with this. It was hurting to watch her plead the HR for a second chance. I however, wanted to tell her that something better was in store for her. I couldn’t, but I’m sure time will. Nostalgia Revisiting college brought back lots of happy memories and a few sad ones too. Friends, gossips, calk-piece incident (one of us threw a piece of chalk on the math lecturer. Of course, it was an accident. The entire class was suspended for a day), the college strike, Uday flunking the ‘Data Structures’ paper (he applied for re-evaluation and got 30 marks more than what had turned out after the initial evaluation), the fights and arguments with the lecturers, the internal tests were a lot of fun (Mukesh and I used the blank side of the question paper to share the answers. We started it in the 3rd semester and followed it all the way through to the 8th semester and never got caught once. That’s some track record), the chemistry between Vishwa and Menaka Priya (Menakey, as Mukesh named her, was 3 years younger than Akash. Believe it!), the cold war between Mukesh and Uday over the 6th semester project, Cricket, NFS and lunch at Akash’s place, my TVS Champ, Akash driving Uday back home on his TVS Champ, lovely miss Shaani Helen (my most favourite lecturer after Menaka Priya), the dreadful ‘Linux Internals’ paper in the 7th semester, the flopped love stories, these and more, were all quite an experience.
It’s a pity that I now get to relive those days only in my memories and I miss those days and I miss you guys. Nevertheless, life moves on…P.S:
1) Sorry guys, for posting your pics without your consent.
2) I don't have Sreelatha's pic.
3) Harish got placed in Wipro that night.
1) Akash - doing what he does best, 2) Mukesh, Akash & Uday (L to R), 3) Sonali & Divya (L to R), 4) Vishwa, Akash and Mukesh (L to R) 5) Akash, me & Mukesh (L to R)
I did my best to get back home to catch the moment that was of magnanimous proportions. Alas, I missed it. Nevertheless, following Sachin's innings on my mobile from the start of the 40th over was nerve-wrecking and exciting. Just to make sure that the luck doesn't change, I kept playing the same song over and over again on my mobile. 
