“This was not a birthday gift, but my sister [Savita] had gone to Kashmir and brought back a Kashmir willow bat for me. That was the first proper bat I had. It was one of the important gifts I received in my life. The second one, was a cycle. Quite a few friends in my colony had one. I said [to my parents] I’m not going down to play unless I get one. It was shocking for them because I was just six or seven and wouldn’t stay put at home. My father said he’d organise one, but I didn’t go down to play for a few days till I got it (laughs),” Sachin fondly recalls, during a candid conversation with Mid-Day.

I still remember the day when I bought the first cricket bat of my life. My parents tried their best to tempted me to buy a strong plastic bag, but I somehow preferred a wooden bat. I chose a classy and captivating English willow bat, and how the shopkeeper tempting me by calling it a Tendulkar’s bat still gives me jitters. Just enough to have me convinced.

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Also Read: Forget surprise celebrations or gifts, Tendulkar likes to 'play it his way' even on birthdays

Barely any sporting career has been so meticulously scrutinised and commented on with the advent of year-round telecasts capturing every glittering moment on air. Always a somewhat reticent figure who opens up among close friends, Tendulkar has kept a low profile since he retired in 2013 after a farewell Test in Mumbai, and apart from featuring in advertisements, which are a testament to his ever-growing popularity, has not been much in the news.

Yet, the embarrassment of riches Indian cricket experiences today is in good measure because of the conviction he planted in a million hearts and the grand spectacle he provided to a nation beset with diffidence in the late 1990s when India’s rise in the sport looked far from certain.  

Streets would turn empty and social life came to a halt. Heartbeats became louder and expressions more vivid. For it was one of those moments, when either there will be unbound joy or the gloom will reign supreme. No kidding. No, it is not any political upheaval that leads to such a frenzy. But only when Tendulkar was on his way to another glory. Ask any Indian today. Or better, any 90s child. Journalists like us or any other cricket analyst have yet to find out what has made Tendulkar such a phenomenon in own different way. 

Forget his records, they are simply milestones. The true romance of Tendulkar’s story lies in his journey, not the destination.

Also Read: It feels nice to be loved, says Sachin on the eve of his 50th birthday