The last rendezvous with "SACHIN TENDULKAR"

Part 1 - Grabbing the tickets and Travelling to Mumbai

A perfect autumn morning, I thought so, never knew my luck was to shine before I even knew about it 11th November 2013, Sachin's last farewell test match tickets were making headlines, the meagre 5000 tickets which BCCI has allotted for  Sachin’s true middle class fans were to be sold online on Kyazoonga.com. True cricket fans or rather Sachinists around the world had tighten their seat belts and ready to fly for the glory post 11 AM.The after effects were so bizarre that the site got bamboozled with 2 crores hits. Imagine 2 crore people vouching for the 5000 tickets on the portal. Kyazoonga servers were battered and it was almost impossible to book tickets there. I along with my colleague tried like hell, wasting each minute of our office hours to somehow book it. But we didn't get anything and I had already started thinking about other options. Just randomly told my wife to give it a try, as she was sitting in office waiting for me to pick her for home. My Wife doesn’t have much interest in cricket, but she is a damn good predictor in terms of cricket results and all,with almost 90 per cent success record and guess what, the lady luck smiled on me and she was able to book the tickets , I couldn’t believe for a while, waited for some time till I got the confirmation from the website. Whoosh!! I was on Cloud 9, naah, rather Cloud 200 as I was the lucky one who had the tickets of Master's Farewell , which will perhaps go down in the history of Cricket as the end of a most prolific and outstanding career of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

So now that we had the tickets, I along with my friend Prabh had to draft a plan for collecting tickets, traveling from Delhi to Mumbai and staying. We decided that we would be going on Friday and join the match on Saturday, the 3rd day of test match. As always, my cricketing acumen suggested that 3rd day of test match is most interesting one. But all our plans got shattered when the Windies were all out on Thursday. A sudden disaster management was the call, and a true sachinist in me suddenly started getting nervous. Will I be able to see Sachin.. Will he get out on 1st day itself? Well, I left my workstation, started walking in the office compound like a student waiting for his exam results to come out , kept on refreshing cricbuzz for rest of the 20 odd overs which Sachin played. And once Umpire called stumps for the Day. I decided that Friday Morning I should be in Wankhede, Mumbai.

The audacious sachinist in me ran into my manager and told him, Sir, I am going to Mumbai to watch Sachin for one last time, Don’t want to lie and call you tomorrow that I am sick: P. He agreed and even felt good for a change that at least there were some people in this boring Software IT industry that do weird things for their passion. The moment he nodded in agreement, I asked my friend Parth who had some corporate setting to book two flight tickets for Mumbai. My Friend Prabh meanwhile arranged everything in Mumbai regarding our stay and all at a common friends place in Andheri East. Went home early packed my bags, hugged my wife and gave her a huge Thank you; I don't think she has given me a better gift than this ever. Because of her luck only it was all possible. Excitement was booming inside, I even had some breathing issues due to anxiety. My family always knew that their son is a Mad cricket Fan, as all the scolding in childhood for not studying and not performing were only because of Cricket or watching cricket matches. But now that I am self-dependent earning individual,  even they understand the logic in my madness :D i.e. once you start earning you should follow your dreams and you should live your passion and that’s what I was trying , thankful to all who supported . After packing my bags with Sachin T-shirts and other stuffs, hired a Tuk-Tuk and reached airport in a flash, damn excited. Tried to catch sleep in flight as I knew we would be reaching Mumbai in the late hours. Post 2 hours finally the announcement was made that we have arrived at our destination.... and I just had the feeling with a sigh – “Mumbaiiiiiiiii....Devotees have arrived somehow to see their GOD”, suddenly I was breathing alright: D                                              

                                           
Part 2 - Mumbai and all about Sachin Sachiiinnnnnnn!!

Things were very unsure and we were expecting a huge turnout on the second day of the test match, reason very obvious Master would come to bat as he was on 38*. It was 4:30 AM and after some chit chat we decided to take some rest for an hour or so, The sheer feeling that I would be there to witness the last match being played by Sachin was yet to sink in, but we still didn’t have the match tickets, physically.  Mumbai is the city that never sleeps, like every wave of the high sea, my mind was wondering about the next day, thoughts about whether Sachin would score a century or would Sachin depart early even before i enter the ground. We woke up at 5 30 , grabbed an auto for Andheri Station and in between collected tickets from Prabh's friend and finally boarded the Church gate Fast local. After some time I realized, that the dream which i saw day and night for the past month since the time master had announced his retirement  was finally shaping up  where I would watch Master bat without a single ball missed.

 After few goof ups, we finally found the entrance gate of  Sunil Gavaskar Pavilion,On our way we found another Sachin fan from South India quite puzzled to find his way to the stands. I was   happy to see that I wasn’t the only mad guy out there: D. We helped him out and finally reached our stands. That  feeling of making it on time was so refreshing.  Once i realized that i  was sitting in Wankhede, my tired legs and sleepy eyes were revitalized and i was damn pumped up. What more a cricket fan and a Sachinist would want from life :). Slowly as the time was approaching 9 30 AM, players came out for their regular drills . That's when my first rendezvous with Sachin happened in Mumbai ... everybody was on their feet ..and screaming the hell out of them "SAchin SAchiinnnn ...SAchin SAchinnn" the tone was set , the arena was ready for Master to come down on the pitch for one last time with his Bat. He arrived with a huge round of applause along with Pujara, and rest i think i don't have to tell you all. It was a vintage Sachin Tendulkar's Show, those cover drives, flicks and straight drives were so satisfying and full of nostalgia. Post his 50 people were expecting he would go all the way to make a 100, the buzz was so strong that almost all the stadium went jam packed. Mumbai stopped. With each run or defense or boundary , a huge roar from the crowd along with the chants of Sachin Sachin was suffixed. Nobody cared there was a cricket match going on, It was probably the one to one affair between the GOD and his devotees. And that was one of the main reason probably SAchin and his other well-wishers wanted to finish it off in Mumbai.

Everything was going as per the script, Sachin was batting magnificently, but suddenly a Deo Narine comes out of nowhere and in flash of a second Sachin was caught in slips by Sammy. The crowd realized he was out on 74, they were disappointed... Imagine a pin drop silence in a stadium , I had witnessed many a times on TV , but today I was part of that silence , soon that silence became an emotional heartbreak , even I had a lump in my throat . People suddenly  began to realize the show was over. A part of them was over ,  Sachin Batting Career of 24 years has come to its completion. Most of us knew that there is very less chance of  India playing again . But still Crowd went bizarre and the whole stadium was chanting "Declare  ... Declare”  "Dhoni Declare “. People were celebrating Indian wickets, just because they want a piece of their Master again.  But by the time India were all out, the lead was more than 300 and Windies past batting performances didn't raise our hopes much. By the end of Day 2 they were 3 down. Post which it was inevitable that Match would get over on Day 3.

Day 3 at Wankhede , Never in recent history i have watched a full house in a test match while India is fielding. But probably people had not turned up for a cricket match, they have come to bid goodbye to their hero, their God. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was on the cricket field for one last time. I had this sinking feeling since last evening, I was feeling low. I was not able to realize that for Sachin "This is It” Its all over. Once i reached ground was not sure what to cheer for. I was numb and only thing which energized me was when Sachin fields the ball or comes for a short spell of bowling. Rest of the time i was lost in my memories of Sachin since i was a child. Luckily my childhood and Sachin's career had parallels. Among them, some incidents were coming right in front of me . In 1996 when Sachin got out in WC semifinals, i wept whole night didn't eat food. When Sachin played a emotional knock of 100 post his father died in 1999, i was so much in awe of him. When he cried like a kid after winning 2011 world cup, i too wept like a 3 year old. I was totally lost, but suddenly realized its 8 down and it will be any moment Sachin cricketing career would finally end. So i joined the crowd and continuously chanted: Sachin Sachinn “with a heavy heart and moist eyes.

Soon the moment arrived, it was all over. The whole stadium was roaring and chanting their favorite slogan . Sachin was leaving the ground for one last time , MSD decided to give him a moving guard of honor , MSD is known for his weird but successful field placements in Test matches and his guard of honor was also one of his kind. People loved it, Sachin loved it and got emotional while leaving the field. When i rolled my eyes around SACHIN TENDULKAR STAND almost every eye was wet , people were waiting for their hero to come out bid them and the game he loved passionately a Final Good Bye. When Ravi Shastri gave Sachin the mike, the next 20 minutes i was in my zone . Just concentrating on what master was saying. I was crying like a kid. As if a part within me had finished. His words specially the last line " Sachin SaChin will reverberate till the time he takes his last breath" meant so much to all of us , we all went up for one last time crying but chanting "Sachin Sachinnnn' 'Sachin Sachinnnn" . Soon the lap of honor started, and one final closer look at the master was captured. Suddenly wankhede went silent, even when people were going back to catch local train, nobody was uttering a single word. I had never seen such a Silent Railway station. Church Gate was numb and silent. Once I boarded the local for andheri, I grabbed a corner seat kept watching outside the window and probably rewinding everything that just happened, it was giving me goose bumps. My eyes remained moist and i was lost somewhere. Till now post my comeback in Delhi, I cannot get over it, it feels like something of my own has left. It was not a habit...or obsession... It was probably a Sachinist inside me , who nurtured within since 1992 when i first watched him live on TV in 1992 world cup at the age on 9. I don’t have words to thank you master. Probably I have to wait till eternity to let this feeling sink one final time.