Sachin's 51st

There was a time, fifty one rupees in an envelope was both acceptable and auspicious. And more than the fifty bucks, it was the one rupee note or coin that we went looking for. While the world, and possibly even Sachin were hunting for that elusive 50th, it was the 51st that was meant to be the one.

He appeared to bind day and night, what with the time difference, and then, the 2nd and 3rd day – there was a cohesive force, the little sub plots, Steyn, the Laxman run-out, Tendu’s ‘what have I done tongue’, Sachin and his apprentice, Bhajji, the endurance, that counter 6 to his 100 (that I called it) – yeah, there was empathy enough for me, as we’d been watching him long enough to know, and yet begin to unknow, and when the end came, I was thankful for what there was before it. And I must have nodded like he does.