Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar is a year older today and we have a special Subhash K Jha feature to celebrate.
It is well known that India’s Nightingale, the jewel in the ‘croon’ Lata Mangeshkar, treated Sachin as her son.
On his flash decision to retire, Lataji once told me, “Sachin is very dear to me. His decision to retire from cricket has saddened me deeply. Frankly, there was a lot of pressure on him. For reasons best known to them, some people insisted that he retire. But why should he have retired until and unless he felt he should? One tends to get tired of all the external pressures imposed on one’s abilities. Cricket is a very difficult game. One tends to get tired and tends to give underwhelming performances. It doesn’t mean the artiste has lost his talents. Luckily, and by God’s grace, I never had to face such attacks on my capabilities. I never felt the pressures that Sachin must have felt. There were public discussions on whether he should retire. I don’t understand why. I didn’t like it. Did people think Sachin lacked the wisdom to know when to quit? Whether it’s a game of cricket or singing, we know when to call it a day. Let the artiste decide when to retire. There was a time not long ago when Sachin was iconized. Then they wanted him to go. Why do we do such things to our heroes? Sachin is like a son to me. I am saddened by his retirement. But I know he will take his cricketing career to the next level. Maybe he will train new generations of cricketers.”
Adding, “There can never be another Sachin. I remember how shocked I was when Sunil Gavaskar announced his retirement. I feel the same sense of shock now when Sachin has called it a day. I grew up with cricket. We had the game going on in my backyard when I was a child. I’ve watched generations of cricketers play. Sachin is one of a kind. Sachin will never tell us why he really retired. He doesn’t believe in saying too much. Kuch toh hua hai. He must have taken the decision after great deliberation. There was pressure on him from some quarters to retire. Sachin didn’t succumb to those pressures. I am sure he has quit because he thought it was the right time to do so. Don Bradman, who is considered the ultimate cricketer, had said that Sachin plays like him. What bigger endorsement of Sachin’s talent could there be? There is nothing more to be said.”
The two Bharat Ratnas went back a long way. While Mangeshkar loved cricket and especially Tendulkar’s batting, the Master Blaster loves film songs and, specially Mangeshkar’s ‘Mera saya saath hoga’, the Madan Mohan composition from the film Mera Saaya.
Recalling her early association with the Tendulkar, the singer once said, “I first saw him play at Sharjah. I remember a sandstorm hit the stadium. But Sachin stood his ground. He sat there with his cricket togs on, waiting for the storm to pass. In him, I saw the determination to excel that I always admire. I remember a few years ago, on Sachin’s birthday, on 24 April, I was invited to his friend Raj Thackeray’s home to meet him. I had taken a figurine of Sai Baba because I got to know Sachin is a Sai bhakt [devotee].”
Mangeshkar’s voice would brim with affection when speaking of Tendulkar. “He calls me Maa, and he is like my son,” she said. Sachin has always been very close to me. Whenever we meet Sachin and Anjali, they shower me with their genuine affection. Sachin is very dear to me. He loves my songs, especially ‘Tu jahan jahan chalega mera saaya saath hoga’. I’ve given him a handwritten copy of that song, which I believe he still has.”
