Mr. Tendulkar, we are INDEBTED for life!

23rd December 2012 will always remain a remarkable day for every cricket fan across the globe. This is the day when the little master announced his retirement from ODI cricket, something which was hard to imagine can ever happen.Also, but for the last few months, 'Retirement' and 'Sachin Tendulkar' have been two words that not many have dared to use comfortably in the same sentence. Though a string of poor scores off-late made it quite inevitable but when the announcement actually happened it was quite a nerve wrecking moment for most of the cricket lovers. It has been a sorry state to see ones favorite star struggle to perform to his capacity over the last few matches but then there was always that hope that he will come back strongly and prove his mettle once again, such has been his pedigree over the last two decades. And with media continuously running stories on why Sachin Tendulkar should retire with immediate effect, backing it with all sorts of (il)logic, it was all the more discomforting. So much so that there was a constant fear while refreshing the web page of any news site that it might flash master's retirement or while tuning on to any news channel dreading the "Breaking News - Sachin Tendulkar announces retirement", flash. There were huge apprehensions on how will he do it, will he retire from both the formats in one go? Will he give us some time to adjust by announcing that XYZ series would be his last or will it be an earth shattering press conference where he will announce it with immediate effect.If it was a difficult decision for the champion to call it off from ODIs,contemplating about all such scenarios life surely has not been easy for us either. 

Though there can be a semblance of debate over the fact is he the best ever to done the whites but there is no denying the fact that he is by far the best ever to grace the ODI format. He has been the master of the shorter format by a big margin to an extent that he almost defined the way 50 overs game is played today. He has been the savior, he has been the tormentor, he has been the saving grace for Indian cricket for over two decades so much so that every Indian always took him for granted. All to an extent that each one of us expected him to score every time he came out to bat, expected him to win every game for us, all on his own. And such has been his delivery commitment that he has performed on most of these accounts and by law of averages if he has failed on some, we have treated that with such cruelty that will make even the likes of Hitler feel shy. All this because from a fan's perspective, with Tendulkar being in the equation, cricket never happened to be a team sport, it has always been about Tendulkar alone.But the humble fellow never complained, he just kept on delivering beyond his ability.

A lot has been written and will be written over the years about all the records he has broken or those unbelievable landmarks that he has scaled but his true pedigree is beyond these numbers. Though it looks herculean at this point but there surely will come a time and a batsman who will eventually break all his coveted batting records but the manner in which this man has captured our hearts and imagination over the last two decades is not only hard but almost impossible to replicate.Over the years, Tendulkar has added a sense of CALM in our lives, Tendulkar has given us HOPE in the most trying times, Tendulkar has given us SMILES to add color in our lives, Tendulkar has made us feel PROUD in the toughest of ties, Tendulkar has given us a GAME by which all Indians can proudly standby. No matter it is the cricketing season or not, no matter it is the match day or not, over the years with him around there has been a sense of security in our lives.To bear the burden of ones manager's expectations in office seems to be a daunting task, just imagine bearing the burden of over a billion people for over 20 years. The very thought gives goosebumps, leave apart fulfilling these expectations every single time. He has been an integral part of our lives to an extent that like we have dad, mom, teachers, friends, cousins playing some or the other very important role in our life so is this guy doing it for us to some extent or the other to soothe our otherwise imbalanced life. So now to think of a life without him would be like imagining a life without any of the above mentioned important actors of our lives. The void definitely would be huge and we will keep on experiencing it over the next few days, weeks, months and years to come.

Though it is tough to accept the fact that from now on we won't be able to watch him play in the Indian blues and whatever little we would see of him would be in the whites, be it test cricket or be it in the parliamentary sessions but it would certainly be injustice to lament on his retirement. As it would again be unfair on his part, his body's part and more so on his family's part. So its all the more prudent that we rejoice all the happy moments that this special lad has given us over the years and thank him as much as we can for being the comforter all this while. He will surely be missed, not only by his fans but also by his detractors as even they were more interested to know how much 'Tendulkar scored?' more than how India fared or rest of the guys performed. But probably in days and years to come this question/statement will be replaced by ' If Tendulkar would have been around, we would have won the match long back'. And the ones to say this would be you and me in the roles of grandpa's and grandma's to our cricket crazy grand children.

Thank you Sachin for all the entertainment and lifetime of memories. You have indebted us all for life!

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