Boria Majumdar
Sachin Week.
Sachin Tendulkar turns 50 on April 24. And it is an occasion to celebrate one of the greatest cricketers India has produced. Why this celebration of an individual in what is after all a team sport, you may ask? We shall leave that answer to the late Lata Mangeshkar, one of the few others to have enjoyed a truly pan-Indian following. “For me, he is the real Bharat Ratna,” she said once. “Whatever he has done for the country, very few people can do. He deserves this honour. He has made all of us feel proud.”
But this is not just about Sachin the cricketer. It is also about Sachin the person, the husband and the father. It’s about trying to understand Sachin, the private individual. With millions of pieces written on him and thousands of stories done for visual media, is there anything about Sachin that we don’t know? Is there an unknown side to Sachin?
Also, how do his ardent fans see him, men and women whose growing-up years were all about supporting the master and being inspired by him? What do some of India’s greatest icons feel about him? What does Sachin mean to someone like Gulzar or Farhan Akhtar? How do India’s other sporting icons like Abhinav Bindra and Sania Mirza view him? And what of those like Rohit Sharma and Ravi Ashwin, who shared the India dressing room with him?
Finally, how does he look back at a career unrivalled and a life that has been immensely fulfilling? We at RevSportz will celebrate Sachin in his totality all of this week. With special features and video stories, it is what we call the Sachin Week. He binds us all, and his birthday will be a pan-Indian celebration. It is only fitting that we look at him with every kind of lens.
Courtesy a special tie-up with Simon and Schuster, we will bring you exclusive extracts from Sachin@50, which is being published on April 24, his 50th birthday. With articles on the master from the best in India and beyond, it is a unique tribute. Stories have been culled from interviews conducted over 25 years, and this is a celebration of Sachin like none other. Sachin deserves all of it and more. As do his fans.