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Anything For A Quiet Life
A black Mercedes pulls up to the curb in a
central London street and out steps
Sachin Tendulkar.
There are no crowds, no bodyguards, and
no one pays any attention to this stocky
and unremarkable gentleman who, aside
from a chunky watch, looks like any other
office worker as he stops to make a call
on the pavement.
Tendulkar wanders up and down the busy
street, tourists and Londoners walking
past him, enjoying the midsummer
warmth and the rare anonymity. It is a
mundane act for the rest of us but a treat
and something to revel in for him.
“I like it here, I have more freedom to do
whatever I want and move around without
any problems,” he says. “I enjoy that
feeling, it is very different for me. I am
given my space, which is important, and I
can go for nice walks in the parks.”
While his Indian team-mates were unsuccessfully attempting
to defend their World Twenty20 title Tendulkar was here to
spend time with his family at their London home. He watched
cricket from the stands, went to the men’s final at
Wimbledon, took a trip to Iceland to sample some cold
weather, took his nine-year-old son Arjun for net sessions at
Lord’s and simply enjoyed unmolested trips to the cinema and
restaurants.
When asked if he could repeat any of these pursuits in
Mumbai he laughs and looks utterly astonished at the
question. “No, no, no, I couldn’t do any of that, I have not
done it for a long time and I don’t see myself doing it again
really.”
Back home in India, of course, Tendulkar is an icon. His every
movement and utterance are monitored, while his image is on
billboards and in as many as a quarter of all advertisements
on Indian television.
Tendulkar recalls one public appearance several years ago in
Bangalore when nearly 200 policemen were needed to control
an impromptu crowd of up to 7,000 people after word had
spread he was in the city.
“There have been a few scary moments but that was the
worst, it was out of control and there didn’t seem to be
enough policemen,” he says. “A lot of people wanted to get
close to me, it was just affection but there was a chance of
me or others getting injured.”
SACHINISM INSIDE OUT- E MAGAZINE - AUGUST EDITION
August 15,
2009
To avoid a repeat Tendulkar rarely ventures out or, when he
does, it is in disguise or very early in the morning. “I have
sometimes worn a baseball cap, a beard, spectacles and a wig
not to be noticed,” he says with a smile. “It was just a bit of
fun and I was once getting away with it until I dropped the
spectacles and a couple of guys recognised me.”
“I also love going for a drive about 5am, when the roads are
empty and people won’t see me. I am not driving fast, just
25mph, I listen to relaxing music, there is no one else, I like
it being just me on my own.”
Today Tendulkar has come to the Opus store in Covent
Garden to promote his own forthcoming Opus, a mammoth
800-page book weighing 30 kilos, which will tell the story of
his career (see panel). Tendulkar is only the second
sportsman after Diego Maradona to be given such lavish
treatment.
Tendulkar remains humble and warm, obliging and polite,
speaking in a soft voice.
In a room decorated with large images of Tendulkar and his
greatest innings he will later hold a press conference that
offers a glimpse into the madness of his life. It begins with a
nurse taking a swab of saliva for his DNA profile, which will
then become a work of art for his Opus. It ends with a gaggle
of fawning Indian journalists, prefacing their questions with
statements such as “I would like you to know I named my son
‘Sachin’ … ”
Sachin Tendulkar - I want to give my six hours of serious cricket on the ground and then take
whatever the result.
SACHINISM : More Than A Religion
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