November 02, 2008

Servant of the game

He was not what you call a master
He was not what you call a blaster
He was just a servant
Servant of the game

He was bespectacled, thick rimmed
Young and nerdy engineer type
Averse to any kind of hype
But eager like any beaver you ever saw

Nobody could read him
Nor batsman nor layman
He was the object of our ridicule
He was no less than a molecule
He was the reason we ragged in colleges
Any kid that that refused to fit in
He was the reason for our losses
He was the reason for our defeats
He was the reason we couldn’t fare better
As a nation, as a people, as a team

He was last choice captain
He was last man standing
He was broken in bandage
He was awoken in carnage

He was the very object of our scorn
Aren’t we happy now he’s gone?
He was the very object of our con
Aren't we happy now he's gone?
He was not Sachin, he was just Anil

He was not what you call a master
He was not what you call a blaster
He was just a servant
Servant of the game

He served in Antigua
He served in Sydney
He served in Delhi
He served in Perth
He served in Bangalore
He just didn’t serve in lore

He was just a servant
Servant of the game

The glasses have long gone
And so the man


(to be performed by Neil Young+Roger Waters, ideally)

13 comments:

straight point said...

you said it all maan...bravo!!

[hmmm...now i know the meaning of what you said (in sms) for taking a min for kumble...]

*taking bow in mughal's fashion*

Trideep said...

Kumble has really been a servant of the game. INspite of all his lack of spin, he did what no other Indian bowler did. He was a great bowler.. A salute to him.

Gaurav Sethi said...

SP - looks like we'll have to take out more than a minute for Jumbo. Btw what will we do after this series without Jumbo n Dada?

Gaurav Sethi said...

Tri - sounds real hack he was the game's servant - almost its slave if you ask me. Wonder what he'll do now that's released

Anonymous said...

Lovely, NC.
"He was not what you call a blaster
He was just a servant..of the game". Priceless! And a great servant, that!

I'm getting the feeling this might not be the only shocker retirement announcement this series. With Dhoni taking over, Dada and Anil, gone, that's some change!

Gaurav Sethi said...

VM - still prefer Kumble's stle, than the long series goodbye. And that you gotta give Kumble, he's got more class than the whole lotta them put together.

Really feel Dravid is in denial. Earlier he was playing to prove the ODI exclusion wrong, now I dunno what's eating him.
Oh, to be at peace like VVS.

sraghuna said...

10 cc aptly penned our nations ode to Jumbo a couple of decades back. It sums up our national ambivalence towards the stalwart who performed a yeoman's service to the nation. So here goes,
'I'm not in love, so don't forget it
It's just a silly phase I'm going through
And just because I call you up
Don't get me wrong, don't think you've got it made
I'm not in love, no-no
(It's because...)

I like to see you, but then again
That doesn't mean you mean that much to me
So if I call you, don't make a fuss
Don't tell your friends about the two of us
I'm not in love, no-no
(It's because...)

(Be quiet, big boys don't cry)

I keep your picture upon the wall
It hides a nasty stain that's lyin' there
So don't you ask me to give it back
I know you know it doesn't mean that much to me
I'm not in love, no-no
(It's because...)'

... & JUMBO's REJOINDER ...

'Ooh, you'll wait a long time for me
Ooh, you'll wait a long time!'

Gaurav Sethi said...

sraguna: by the end of it all, jumbo was a 10cc engine himself.

Som said...

Spot on. AK has always been a willing servant, a go-to man, who would give his best irrespective of conditions and opponents. With AK, it was always WE and not I. You could almost visualise a tri-colour fluttering whenever he walked out to bowl. Well done, Jumbo.

Gaurav Sethi said...

som, according to mail today, the kotla curator claims the cracks were filled in by anti-AK /pro MSD bunch, and this was not the wicket he had in mind for Jumbo.
what's yr take?

Leela said...

Kumble gone, Dada will be too pretty soon.. and the crumbling of the "wall" seems imminent too...

Oh my god.. a team minus all these people...it just hit me.

Gaurav Sethi said...

Leela, after SMG it was more OMG.

Sure it hits us, but i doubt it'll hit the team that bad. emotionally yes, cricketwise, a lot less.

Anonymous said...

Nice... ain't it strange, considering he is India's single biggest match winner ever, the endorsements that came his way were few. Was it Anil taking a stand there or the advertisers knowing this song all too well.