Playing it her way…for Sachin!

Humble Beginnings

My grandmother was born on 25^th December, some years before India achieved its independence. Her love for India is unparalleled. She was born into a family with scarce resources hence she could only educate herself till pre-school. Her love for knowledge and passion for learning puts me to shame. Once her education was stopped, she had to do odd chores in many houses to make ends meet for her family. Not once, did she complain. She made sure she worked much harder than kids her age but never compromised on self-esteem or asked for money. 

She was married off at 16. Her husband did small jobs but she had to work really hard to raise her family and her five children. Life did not change much. In spite of not having good formal education, her thoughts were way ahead of her times. This was evident as she ensured that all her children, four of whom were girls, got the opportunity to go to school. She did this when India wasn’t particularly fond of educating the girl child.

Her children grew and started becoming financially independent. This helped her a bit but they hadn’t still come out of poverty. On one of these days, she asked her nephew if he could buy her some rice and vegetables for dinner. She gave him the money after he agreed.

Cricket – A religion in India!

This incident might have happened somewhere in the mid eighties. The boy took the money and went to the shop. On the way, he passed a field where some boys were playing cricket. He forgot what he had set out for and started playing cricket. He enjoyed the game but lost the money somewhere on the field. He was completely scared of what would happen to him but decided to tell his aunt the truth. He pleaded with her to not tell his mother or he would get beaten.  She assured him that she would not tell his mother and the boy was relieved. She wanted to know how he lost the money. Her nephew answered that he saw his friends playing cricket and started playing with them. In the process, he forgot about the task she assigned and while playing he lost the money.

Nine out of ten, perhaps all ten, women in India would have given the boy a piece of their mind. She was different. She wanted him to tell her what cricket was. He explained the game to the best of his knowledge. And therein began her love for this great game!

By this time, she had become a grandmother. She was a grandmother much before her own half-century in life. This fact, coupled with all the hard work, ensured that she was in great physical shape and used to carry her grandson (not me, my cousin brother) and go for long walks. She would spend most evening watching the boys play cricket in the nearby fields. She would cheer every six and boundary and her joy knew no bound when she watched this game. If cricket was a religion in India, she had found the religion to practice. If she hadn’t found something, it was an idol.

Schoolboy plays for India

Thanks to her primary education; she could read in Malayalam, her mother tongue. She would devour the newspapers in the morning. Her lack of education never quenched her appetite for learning.

She had started reading about articles on Indian cricket and secretly nursed a desire that her nephew should play for India. Yes, the same nephew who lost her money a few years ago!

It is on one of that morning that she read about a schoolboy, her nephew’s age, making waves in India’s domestic circuit and getting selected to play for India.

Watching him on T.V.

She had never watched Television in her life. The device caught her fancy. She saw people watching cricket on television. Three years passed since the schoolboy made his debut. The schoolboy had become a force to reckon with. He had become the mainstay of Indian cricket team’s batting line up.

The year was 1992 and she still did not have TV in her house. At that time, she was at her daughter’s house. The daughter had delivered a baby boy. This house was in another village, about 100 kilometers from her house. Her neighbor there was a lady who she had a good equation with. She had bought a Television recently. The cricket world cup of 1992 was going on down under and India had not done really well till then. India was going to play Pakistan on that day and she had to convince/cajole this neighbor to watch the match. The lady of the house was her age; she was a good friend as well. However, she hated to watch any sport.

After much convincing, she ensured that the neighbor would watch cricket with her. She enjoyed every minute of the game and to her delight, this young schoolboy had scored a timely half century. The neighbor grew curious with all the cheering and asked her who this boy was. “He is my my brother’s son, my nephew’, she said and beamed with pride. The lady, who in all likelihood, had never been out of the village did not even know that Sachin Tendulkar was not even from Kerala! My grandmother played it her way, probably lied for the first time in her life, only to catch a glimpse of the God to millions of followers who followed the same religion as she did.

I think it would delight many cricket enthusiasts to know that she even taught the neighbor and some other ladies in the area what cricket was all about!

Lost and found!

As her children had moved to Mumbai and settled here, my grandmother could come to Mumbai, closer to where Sachin lives. Her love for cricket only grew with age. She had a lot of energy for her age and wouldn’t agree to just rest. She went for a walk after a family function one evening and didn’t return after an hour. Family members got worried.

She reached back very soon, much to our delight. When asked where she was, she said she was at the playground watching the boys play cricket.

India-England (World Cup 2003)

I vividly remember this incident which happened during the India v/s England game in 2003. It was in South Africa and matches went late into the night. I was very tired and dozed off which watching India bowl. My father was to come in a bit late and his knock on the door woke me up. I opened the door. All this while, my grandmother was sitting in the same place, not moving once.

My father asked how the match was going. I told him India was doing great and that Ashish Nehra had picked up four wickets. “Six”, she shouted. My father and I were stunned. She said correcting me again, ‘Ashish Nehra has taken six wickets’. Both my father and I laughed but we were in awe of her passion for the game, her concentration when the game was on and her desire to see India win. How many women her age would be awake at 1 a.m to see cricket matches LIVE. I don’t know any other woman.

During any match, if we would ask her how much India needed to win, she would say that with runrate calculations as well. She never understood a word of English and commentary was an alien language to her. Yet, she was spot on with the game’s latest update.

One Century = One Coconut

I used to go to temple on Tuesdays. It was a practice I followed while I was a student. On one such Tuesday morning, I saw my grandmother up and ready. She said she wants to go with me. I enjoy her company and was more than happy to take her along.

In the temple, she asked me to buy a coconut so that she could offer it to Lord Ganesha. I did that as well. After the offering I asked her why she had done it. She replied that Sachin had scored a century the previous day and it was her way of thanking God for it.

Every time Sachin scored a century, she would religiously ensure that a coconut was offered to God. Sachin made life very difficult for her by scoring 100 international centuries!

First Double Century

Sachin scored the first double century ever in One day internationals against South Africa. She wasn’t well during this day but couldn’t take rest. She was in the living room cheering each run like a teenager. She had her anxious moments and offered prayers to Lord Ganesha after Sachin reached the landmark. I asked her if a double century meant she would offer two coconuts. She looked at me as if I asked a stupid question and said, “Ofcourse”. She added that she had been doing this every time he scored a double in a test match.

A few years later, Sehwag became the second Indian to score a double hundred in One day Internationals. He also overtook Sachin’s score and recorded the highest score in ODI. To our surprise, my grandmother was very upset with Sehwag and made it clear that he did not do the right thing.

Tennis Elbow

When Sachin was down with tennis elbow, it became national news. Every newspaper covered news about his tennis elbow, why it may require a surgery etc. She read one of these papers. One of her daughter’s, my aunt, called during this time and asked my mother if she could speak to her. After talking for a while, my aunt enquired with my mother if she was fine and why she was crying. My mother told her that it was nothing but Sachin’s tennis elbow and surgery which were bothering her. She convinced my aunt that my grandmother was in very good health.

Critics’ nightmare

My mother is a teacher. She teaches a lot of students at home in the room adjacent to the hall room where we have the television set. One of her student happened to come during a One day international when India was put into bat and Sachin was at the crease.

He was sure about Indian citizens right to freedom of expression and said that Sachin was not in great touch and would get out soon. He had never seen fury in the form of an old lady before and literally ran to the other room to save his life. My grandmother would have absolutely no qualms in giving him a whack!

Even relatives wouldn’t be spared if they chose to criticize Sachin. My uncle, father’s brother, once happened to visit us when we were watching a match. For some reason, he skirted around Sachin’s form and said that Sachin plays for only his century and never wins the match for India. My grandmother made her mind to slap him. Fortunately, she reigned her anger but not before strongly reprimanding my uncle and telling him in no uncertain terms to never repeat it.

The Swansong

Sachin Tendulkar’s last test match in Mumbai was one of the events that media had extensively covered. India won this test match and Sachin’s farewell speech was one of the best farewell speeches the nation had heard and seen.

My grandmother can do chores such as cutting vegetables without even having to pay full attention to the task. The learning curve with all the practice allowed her that liberty. While Sachin was delivering this speech, she decided to multi-task. She watched television and cut the vegetables simultaneously. She cut her finger in the process. Sachin had sure, shed a lot of blood and sweat while making India proud. In his swansong Test, she did shed some blood – only due to her own concentration lapse.

The next morning

The next morning was the end of an era for many cricket fans. For her, it was the end of cricket itself. She read the papers in languages she understood. She even read the English dailies though she did not understand the language. She may have been able to comprehend what was written due to the supporting images. She doesn't watch cricket anymore. She doesn't go to temples anymore as well!

Parting note

I am a huge Sachin fan myself and couldn’t wait to get hold of his book “Playing it my way”. Today evening, when I met her and told her about what I read, she said she wished it was translated in Malayalam. She then told me a lot about how cricket happened to her. My mother suggested that I should write this.

I think my grandmother’s story deserves to be told and cricket enthusiasts deserve to know about it. I believe this December 25^th, when she celebrates her birthday, all Sachin fans should send her birthday wishes. The icing on the cake (pun intended) would be if the master blaster, Sachin Tendulkar wishes her, atleast on TwitterJ. That would be the best birthday gift.