Opinionate

So the dreaded day has come and gone. Tributes have been authored, paeans have been composed, tears have been shed. Legends have been queuing up to wax eloquent about his/her favorite Sachin Tendulkar memory. The man himself has delivered a heart-rending account of his '24 years between 22 yards'. Generally, most legends have an air of aloofness about them; they seem distant, almost haughty. However, with Tendulkar, there is no aura, no mystique. He, simply, is a part of our lives as much as cricket is a part of his. For twenty-four memorable years, he enriched the nation's lives; and I was there for eighteen of those. Unfortunately, I wasn't much of a cricket fan in my early years, and I missed what is claimed by many to be his finest years (although repeat telecasts have softened that blow somewhat). Yet, here is my attempt at an account of my tryst with Tendulkar: 2001: The initial impressions After completing 10,000 ODI runs It's funny how I...

NEWS FLASH: Rahul Dravid retires from international cricket, leaves behind a legacy of runs and goodwill. Yes, it's true!  Rahul Sharad Dravid , one of the five enduring colonnades of Indian cricket, will  no longer adorn the whites again . While I was never his greatest fan,   I still was unable to digest the fact that come November, a new number 3 will be walking out for India. While some people may feel that this change was essential; and is the harbinger of a golden era for Indian cricket, I feel that this marks the beginning of the end of one. Sachin, Rahul, VVS, Sourav and Anil are veraciously irreplaceable. Rahul Dravid: 'I leave with sadness, but also with dignity' The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Rahul Dravid is the word 'pillar'. He embodies the pillar of a house in every sense of the word. While Sourav Ganguly was like Italian marble flooring, flashy and graceful at times, yet cold and intolerable at other; Sa...