In 20 years, how little has changed

Sachin Tendulkar completed 20 years in international cricket. In some aspects, it appears that Sachin is in a zone where time has stood still. Before his debut for India, he was asked in an interview about his ambitions. “I want to play for my country, sir” the boy replied. Not an unexpected answer at all in the context. Some twenty years later, in another interview, Sachin talked about his ambitions - He wanted to play for the country. I heard the same passion, the same determination that I heard 20 years back. Even the voice hadn’t changed!
The same goes for the fans attitude as well. I remember watching matches where India was hopelessly staring at defeat: sitting at the edge of my seat, heart in my mouth only because Sachin was around there slaying demons. Anything was possible when he was around. I went through the same experience again last week when India played Australia in Hyderabad, chasing some 350 runs – watching Sachin trying to make the impossible possible. Nothing seems to have changed over the years!
Here’s to the Peter Pan of Indian cricket!

Comments

  1. JujubaxDecember 18, 2009 at 9:29 PM

    Mohan:
    Good observation about Sachin.
    It is very difficult to be modest when one scale such heights as we have seen elsewhere.
    Perhaps, your admiration for him stands vindicated.
    cheers,
    madhu

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Evolution in Indian politics

I was following the IPL-Tharoor saga not just as another scandal, but rather as a definition of what is the Darwinian fitness in Indian Politics. When Tharoor became prominent in politics, to me it was a welcome mutation – not a perfect new species, mind you – but a mutation that was a definite improvement on the existing species. And there was reason to believe that the environment of selection too has changed with increasing education of the masses and increasing influence of the electronic media. From that perspective it was quite interesting to watch if this new gene survived. It is probably too early to write the obituary of this political gene, but I think it looks unlikely that it will survive. In Indian politics it appears that the fittest one is the same old fashioned, wily gene. For those who are wondering why I am wasting my breath in supporting someone who apparently misused his position of power, I am not here to justify what he did or what he is supposed to have do
Read more

Evolution in politics – Part II

In 2010, when the Shashi Tharoor – IPL controversy was at its peak, I wrote a small note wondering about the future of politicians like Shashi Tharoor – well qualified, polished, with international exposure – in the Indian political environment. Here is a link to that note. I worried then that the environment is too hostile for this new life form – let’s call it the T-gene - to survive. Half a decade has passed and there is good news as well as bad news. The good news is that he has survived the test of time so far. If anything, he is stronger today than he was then. The bad news is that I still don’t see many more like him coming into politics. So the T-gene survives but does not seem to prosper. It is not difficult to see why. The environment of selection remains as hostile as what it used to be. If the T-gene has survived, it has survived on its own tenacity and not by benevolence of selection. Media still prefers Lalit Modi or Lalu Yadav brand of politics. Let us consider a
Read more

Google acquiring Motorola Mobility

Why is Google buying Motorola Mobility? Interesting question! A more relevant question – what will Google do with Motorola once they buy it? Given below are some of Google’s options. The assumption is that Google is most interested in Motorola’s patents and least interested in their Cable business. This assumption eliminated some of the combinations from the options. Option 1: Keep the patents, keep the operations – phone as well as cable. This option offers multiple advantages for Google: it will help Google get the protection of the patents, Google can attempt to achieve the same advantage that Apple has achieved through tight integration of the phone hardware and software. This option might help Google in their TV battle through Motorola’s existing installed base and partnerships. But there are many questions here. Is Google interested in the tightly integrated model? In fact, Google’s press statement says that it will keep the Moto phone division at an arm’s length f
Read more