M A I N   N E W S

At Wankhede, Sachin pads up for final bow
Maestro’s much-awaited final 200th Test begins at his hometown today
Rohit Mahajan/TNS

Mumbai, November 13
The moment is here and now. For the haters and the lovers, the believers and the doubters, the unimaginable life without Sachin Tendulkar is about to begin. The beginning of the end was at Lahli, where Sachin Tendulkar played his final Ranji Trophy match; the second step was Kolkata, where Tendulkar played his 199th Test match. We're now upon the end. The end roils emotions like nothing else, for there will be no Tendulkar in the Indian batting line-up ever again; a lifetime's habit is going to end. Sentiments are stirred, passion is shaken.

But step out of the Wankhede Stadium, past the few hangers-on near the gates, and you realise that this emotion is not universal. Tendulkar's exit, for many a most significant moment that signifies the end of an era, is passing by without registering on the consciousness of the majority. You walk to the Marine Drive or the Azad Ground, among lovers and lovers of cricket, and you realise that Tendulkar is not the buzzword in his hometown.

Sachin Tendulkar with his fans at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday. — PTI

You can't help asking yourself — is this feeling of the impending emotional vacuum restricted to the diehard fans and the media?

On the day of his final nets session for India, Tendulkar gazed up a variety of vignettes on the stage around him -- his own 51 pictures being transported and put up at the highest point in the stadium; the knot of 200-odd watchers in the stands; the ball-boys and the young nets bowlers clamouring for a word or a photograph with him; and the media frenzy around him as they clamoured for a last photograph with Tendulkar the Test cricketer.

As the master gazed upon this paraphernalia being set up for his departure, would he have been struck by a pang of grief at this massive celebration, this festival to mark his end?

Tendulkar is a master of the game; he's also a master of the art of not hurting people, alienating anyone. Over the last few weeks, he seems to have reached a Zen state of emotional balance, a rare sense of peace. This is remarkable, for Tendulkar was always a very calm man.

The impositions on him have risen manifold over the month; in Lahli, he was besieged at every public moment. Everyone wanted a photograph or an autograph with him -- the ballboys, the DSP, the politician's kids. Tendulkar lived through that with a smile, a patience that would have been seemed even beyond him.

That was evident today too, even at the moment when about 100 photographers gathered around him after a group photo, with the inevitable pushing and 
shoving. Tendulkar was calmness personified.

MS Dhoni today said that Tendulkar the superstar taught the others how to handle success. That calmness, that grace is multiplied manifold in the master's last days as India cricketer.