Good Morning!!

My morning now happens at 6.15. I catch my cab at 7.30 and its a good half a km walk to the stop. The chilled early morning makes me nostalgic of my UK stay. I used to walk close to a kilometre then to catch a train at 8.12  to office. There used to be a series of events every morning, I used to see the same set of faces doing the same set of things everyday repeatedly.  I now, regularly see the same events repeating everyday- the kids waiting for their bus, the same auntiji walking her Pug, an uncle walking his Labrador , people waiting for their office transport, some on their brisk walks and others doing yoga in the park.

Its been just 3 months since I have availed the office transport and I am loving it. I would really encourage everybody who has this option to use it.

Pro of office cabs

• Its the most Eco-friendly option
• Its a very Eco-nomically friendly option
• Its more disciplined to wake up early
• The Traffic Jams /Pollution doesn’t matter anymore
• My office timings are not at the mercy of the Rain Gods
• My office culture is good enough to be considerate of Cab timings, we get an early exit from meeting/training!!
• A delicious evening snack waiting for me everyday!

Con of office cabs

• Hate the sound of early morning Alarm.
• Non-flexible time , you cant go late or stay few mins late in office
• Did I say, I hate the sound of early morning alarm!

My cab ride to office span a good 11KM and last around 20 mins. The not so early morning Bangalore is all about catching the bus. There is relatively less traffic and I see so many people with there loved ones waiting for the bus to come. The whole cycle of life can be seen in these bus stops. The pattern starts like this- husbands come to drop their wifves to stop , The next progression in family happens and young mums come to drop their little kiddos to school bus. I don’t see many dads coming to drop their kids.  We can see the next milestone when Dads come back to drop their adolescent kids to bus.  Only the college kids are by themselves till they study and get a job I guess.

The most funny part is the similarities between working professionals and kiddos. The kids have a school bag and grown ups have a laptop bag, the kids have there kiddish tiffin box and the grown ups a Tupperware dabba. The kids do have an enthu about going to school but most grown ups are grim about something waiting for them in office.

Saaaachin…. Sachin!!

Its end of an era. At the end of his career, entire nation was singing the swan song. I am a Sachin fan , I might not be a die-hard fanatic but I am a big fan. I did not shed a tear like my teammate when Sachin walked down to bat his last innings.  I  did feel  extremely sad when he walked back to pavilion yesterday. The final walk- the emotional expression on all the faces , the huge number of placards with #thankyousachin’ with every fan expressing their gratitude. I felt the camera crew had prepared a special montage for this memorable moment.

I agree that people are going overboard with this occasion. I completely agree that many people are using this occasion as an excuse for their vested interests. I also agree that Sachin does deserve every bit of the adulation that he is getting. Many other Indian legends did deserve a lot more respect than what was given to them towards their end but that doesn’t mean we have to carry on that tradition.

The whole point of this blog was due to a conversation that I had with my FIL. He was sort of angry with the buzz around Sachin’s retirement. During the conversation he mentioned that “Sachin is paid to play for India and he is just doing his job. He is not God and people like Premji is adopting villages for the betterment of the society. He said, if a kid gets educated by Premji’s foundation and this one-act might change the future of the kid entirely! Premji might be responsible for  thousands of bright futures! You will see and forget Sachin’s batting and it doesn’t change anything in your life after the match is over. I agreed with him that Sachin is no God but the context to that saying started with ‘If Cricket is a religion,Then Sachin is God’. I did say that Sachin is involved in philanthropy but he doesn’t like to advertise it much. The donation/sponsor given by him too is supposedly kept anonymous. He obviously might not have given as much as Premji- but it counts.  My FIL retorted, Ajim Premji has spent close to Rs. 8,000 Crores and he is great in true terms. I responded by saying that it’s not fair to compare Sachin with Premji (to whom I have immense respect being an ex-wiprote). Premji might have helped thousands of people financially but Sachin has given priceless memories to Billions. This ended the conversation on that topic.

What Sachin has done for India cannot be put into words, I think he has inspired many generations who have witnessed him play. He was a uniting force for India, no matter the age/religion/caste/creed , ‘How much did Tendulkar score?‘ was a very common question many years back. This impact that he had on people has been beyond any geographical boundary. I still remember the day he scored 200 in ODI and my office cafeteria burst into unified cheer. Today, my eyes were moist while listening to his farewell speech and I didn’t know myself that I liked him enough to cry. If the speech wasn’t enough, he walked alone down to the middle one last time and touched it…one…last…time… I will end this blog with some comments from Cricinfo. When I read this blog after few years, it will help me recall how special this moment was.

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Daniel: “im in rural australia, watching this and just screamed with agony at Tendulkars dismissal, its felt here in the dusty plains of Australia.”

Dhwani: “Gosh! This is getting really serious….Looks like it is going to be a sleepless night following Sachin in cricinfo from the US…glued to the screen”

Najam: “Cheering Tendulkar from across the border 🙂 he just made a century in terms of balls played, dint he : ) #Tendu VS Tinu”

Prashant: “Even in Singapore , we had a full page for Sachin in today’s news paper . Just felt proud to be a Sachin Fan and an Indian.”

Balaji: “As Sachin climbed up the stairs, I couldnt help but shedding tears, as I chanted “Sachin.. Sachin..” down here in Chennai. I turned around to see my dad in his sixties, shedding more tears. This guy can freeze time and generations, crash cricketing records, melt a billion hearts, yet stay so humble. God will be proud to be associated with this man”