A tribute to Sachin – Amul ads

A prodigy called Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin has been portrayed in Amul Ads over the years. As his retirement from test matches approaching, We have decided to show some of the interesting Amul ads about this legend.

When Shoaib refused to bowl to Sachin

This was released when Sachin made the first ODI double hundred. He is the first person to score a double hundred in ODIs. Virender Sehwag followed him up.

 

sachin-double-hundred-odi-cricket-amul-ad

 

Sachin has been an awardee of Order of Australia. A testimony of his batting skills accepted by Australian community. Incidentally, his best knock have come against the best bowling attack of that time, that was Australia.

 

order of australia images

 

This takes the cake. The Don himself told that Sachin plays in the same fashion Don used to play. Sachin had a private meeting with Sir Donald Bradman when he was playing there. What an occasion it must have been.

 

dono bradman - sachin

 

This came when he created history by making hundred international hundreds. The hundredth ton too some time, and he was bowled by Ravi Rampaul in his homeground, when he was tantalizingly closed. But Little Master ensured that Indian following is not disappointed for long.

 

100 centuries

 

This was the moment when Little Champion surpassed the original Little Master, Sunil Gavaskar. Incidentally, Sachin has idolized Sunil Gavaskar and Vivian Richards during his formative years. Gavaskar broke the record of Sir Don and Sachin broke Gavaskar’s record. Currently, Sachin is the leading century maker in test and one day internationals and stands alone on the submit of 100 INTERNATIONAL CENTURIES.

 

sunny days

 

This is very recent. When Master Blaster celebrated birthday with his old pal, Vinod Kambli. They have played together in the school and scored a 664 runs partnership as schoolboys. When Vinod Kambli made his debut, Sachin was batting at other end.

sachin-40-birthday

 

When Shoaib refused to bowl to Sachin

Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan

Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachcan – My Heroes

The great man has retired. There will be no more upper cuts or paddle sweep. So what? There are enough memories of his exploits which will remain with us. People often argue what is so great about him. The argument will stretch that he got out when he was needed, blah, blah……… My view is different. There is a very good article about Mr SRT on cricinfo and surely many of us will relate. I definitely do. For me, what made him great was the manner he took on opponents. I never realized this, but the more I think, the more I am convinced. What he did to Indian cricket was what Amitabh Bachchan did to Hindi movies. Here the angry young man, is fighting against the army of baddies, our little champion was taking on intimidating fast bowlers all over the world. The superstar stumbled at the last hurdle in two epics (Sholay and Deewar). Our Little Champion could not see India through against pak(133) and aus(90).

Sachin and Amitabh

Sachin and Amitabh

The era which he started playing where an indian fan was used to losing. Here comes a little boy who started taking the bull by horns. It may seem exaggerating, but “Tum hamein maar nahi Sakte” is almost as recognizable as “Main yeh jaanta hoon ki main yeh kar sakta hoon”.  Such has been his effect of exploits that he did not remain at coffee table or tea stalls, he came into our homes. I surely can relate to the article “Growing with him”. Following things may look like stories, but they are facts.

  1. The day of my last engineering paper was the day “he” beat Australia in Sharjah. That innings is part of Tendulkar folklore. I don’t remember the name of the subject (where I scored an A), but I rue that I could not see about first seventy runs because of the paper.
  2. Kolkata test is known for VVS and Rahul. But even on the last day, India did not win until Sachin gave a test of his own medicine to Warne, a googly. (35/3)
  3. The writer has witnessed fighting people over what he cannot do. Some people even suggested that he can become president of India. He is currently a rajya sabha member, you never know what happens next.
  4. The way he took on Henry Olonga after getting out on a bouncer. People said this is end of his career. He had played 12 years now. I boarded a train to my home town and there was a scheduled stop of about 20 minutes. On the platform,  the match was live on TV. Me and my friend could not believe, but Sachin and Saurabh won the game in about thirty overs, with special treatment meted out to Henry. You will probably not believe that train started about 20 minutes late from its scheduled departure, after the match was finished.

Whatever may be the case, but the exit was unceremonius from the stage which was his. Mr Bachchan has reinvented him, I hope he says goodbye to test cricket in grand style.

Note: This article started just after his announcement for retirement, but seeing the light late.

O teacher – a tribute to you

In Indian culture, teacher is given a higher position than father and mother.

5th september is celebrated as the Teachers day in India, in rememberance of Late Indian president, Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan. He was a teacher, who later held the president’s post in India

All over the world, a teacher holds an exalted place. It is the teacher who is responsible for the pupil’s  welfare and education. So, teacher or guru is given a special place all over the world from ancient times to today.  It has been seen that teachers have played a pivotal role for the welfare of their pupil.  There are numerous examples available where a teacher has done everything for their pupil and pupils have attained greatness because of their teacher. In the following paragraphs, we will discuss about the teacher and pupil relationship across various cultures.

Teacher’s relevance in Japanese Culture

Teacher and pupil relationship exist in different forms, such as mentor and protege. In Japanese culture, we have heard about Sempai and Kohai. These terms have been made popular by the movie, “The Rising Sun”.

In Chinese culture, Mandarins were the teachers, who imparted education by travelling throughout the country. This was a tough job, but tells in volumes about the significance of teachers.

In Indian mythology and context, some important teacher student relationships are detailed as following:

Chanakya and Chandragupt

This is probably the best example of mentor and protege relationship in Indian history. Chanakya, the teacher of Chandragupt, has planned for his disciple’s ascendancy. He executed the plan well. Chandragupt went on to rule all over India. Later on, he was supported by Chanakya in governance as well. This is worth mentioning that both of these have humble beginnings, but their desire to overcome obstacles was so powerful, that they became the supreme powers.

chanakya-teacher-indian-history
Chanakya – The teacher of Chandragupt

Ekalavya and Drona

Another great example of Guru Shishya relationship from the times of Mahabharat. Drona did not teach Ekalavya. But he did not hesitate once when he was asked for his thumb by his Guru, Dronacharya. Drona has done this to ensure that his pupil, the great archer remains the best in the business. Drona has gone out of the way to ensure that Arjuna gets his due.

Read about Ekalavya and Drona

Drona - teacher of Arjuna
Drona – teacher of Arjuna

Arjuna and Shri Krishna

Perhaps you would wonder that this alliance is not written in terms of teacher and pupil alliance, as they were friends, Nar and Narayana. But think of it, this was Shri Krishna’s preachings, which made Arjuna to fight the war of Mahabharat. Shri Krishna was his supreme teacher. He guided him to victory. While other given him the knowledge, Shri Krishna ensured that Arjuna won his war. This is why we can treat him as the Supreme Guru.

Krishna and Arjuna - Nar and Narayan
Krishna and Arjuna – Nar and Narayan

Parshurama and Karna

This example isbjust opposite of Drona and Arjuna, here the teacher cursed his pupil. Where as Drona ensured that his pupil gets benefited. Anyway, Karna’s quest for knowledge cannot be faulted.  When he was denied by Parshurama, he arranged somehow that he becomes his teacher. Here the fate did the trick.  Karna was born as a Kshatriya, but he did not knew this. In absence of this knowledge, he has to bear the brunt of something he was not responsible for.

Sage Vasistha and Lord Rama

Vasishtha , one of the Saptarshi’s was the teahcer of Lord Rama and his brother Laxman. Rama helped his teacher later, as he killed demons. These demons were creating problems for Sage Vasistha. This is how, Ram paid gurudakshina to him.

Ramakant Achrekar and Sachin Tendulkar

Another very good example of this relationship is Sachin and Ramakant. People say that what Sachin is today is because of the training given to him by his teacher Ramakant Achrekar. For his contribution, Sir Achrekar has also won the Dronacharya award.

Ramakant Achrekar and Sachin Tendulkar
Ramakant Achrekar and Sachin Tendulkar

Shane Warne and Terry Jenner

Lot of people know about the genius of Shane Warne, but few know that this legend has been trained by the Terry Zenner, himself a leg spin bowler.  He played nine test for Australia and revived the art of leg spin, which is increasingly becoming a rarity in Cricket.

Tery Jenner - the teacher
Tery Jenner – the teacher
Terry Jenner and Shane Warne
Terry Jenner and Shane Warne

Bhishma – Brihaspati and Parshurama

Bhishma was the son of Shantanu and Ganga, and he had two teachers. Thus Parshurama was the teacher of Bhishma and Karna both, but yet, Bhishma did not like Karna. This was the reason Karna did not fight the war of Mahabharat under the commandership of Bhishma.

Prahlad’s – In Indian mythology, Prahlad was the disciple of Vishnu. His father, Hirankashyap did not like this and tried to kill his own son. Such was the devotion of Prahlad, Vishnu took the Narsimha avatar to save his disciple. Again, an example of teacher saving his disciple.

In Greek Mythology too, there is a story on teacher and student, but it is quite similar to Karna and parshurama story, where the teacher has cursed her pupil, archane.

The run which made whole India standstill

This is how the Master reached his hundredth 100.

Sachin's hundredth hunderd

The One run which made whole india wait

 

If Sachin does not get to the hundred mark?

This article is not to predict whether Sachin will get his hundredth ton or not, rather this article is about the similar instances and landmarks of sport persons, which have been hard to come by.

By this time, this is irrelevant to talk about the capability of the prodigy called Sachin Tendulkar,because he had made enough runs in both forms of cricket, which will require some effort to supersede individually, forget about any person reaching the milestones in both forms of this game.

Sachin Tendulkar - playing upper cut

Sachin Tendulkar – playing upper cut

This does not make him superhuman though, as we see in following cases,  athletes struggling at the proverbial “last hurdle”.

Kapil Dev, the charismatic all rounder, who led India to their first world cup victory, was seen struggling in his last stages of career, when trying to upstage Sir Richard Hadlee. Azharuddin did not get to play his 100th test, because for the reasons not related to cricket. Saurabh Ganguly struggled for a place in the eleven at the fag end of his career.

Perhaps, the exception has been Anil Kumble, who became more skilful at the twillight of his career, but one person stands out of this, who is Sunil Gavaskar who is truly an exception to these. He said good bye to cricket in prime form.

Another is Imran Khan, who inspired a not so good team to a world cup win. Similarly we saw Ivan Lendl never winning a Wimbledon despite being at top for long, we are witnessing Rafael Nadal showing signs of fatigue at a very young age, which makes Roger Federer look good.

Well, the question is , even if he does not get it, would Sachin, the phenomenon Tendulkar’s achievements will become less great? I doubt, after all, Sir Don Bradman did not get those four runs. Sir Jack Hobbs struggled a lot to equal W G Grace’s record, and was “helped” by opposing team when he actually broke the record.

But guess, who will be remembered along with Tendulkar, if does not get it at all. The answer is, Ravi Rampaul.

First published on 04 March, 2012, Sachin made his 100th ton on Mar, 16, announced retirement from ODI before the team selection with Pak Series on 23 Dec, 2012.