Fate

27^th June 2008. The date I was scheduled to join Tech Mahindra with 150 odd college mates of mine. 20^th June 2008. The date we got the mail that our joining had been postponed till further notice. It was the day all of us cursed Tech Mahindra till dawn and continued it for atleast a week or so uninterrupted. I had started thinking why? Why was the joining postponed? Didn’t Tech Mahindra know the number of people slated to join? Didn’t they anticipate the infrastructure they would need to cater to the number? From that day to this, so much has happened. It has been a thought provoking and a literal life changing experience for me. 

Ganeshotsav is the chief festival in my family and last year, we missed out on it due to the death of my grandfather’s elder brother just days before Ganesh Chaturthi. With my joining slated for June, I was certain of missing it out this time too and for a long time henceforth, I would be unable to enjoy Ganeshotsav at home for the full span of 10 days. But it was planned to work out differently and I was home savoring the one last chance for the full 10 days having nothing to do other than celebrate Ganeshotsav. 

During that time, Tech Mahindra scheduled the joining of 120 odd freshers for 10^th October 2008. The list featured 57 people from my college but my name didn’t feature in that list too. I again thought why? Why didn’t I get the date even now? A week after Ganeshotsav, my grandmother suffered an attack of Lumbar (lower back) Spondylosis and was bed ridden for 20 days writhing in pain and it was essential that I remain at home. That period too passed on. 

Then my dear friend Harshavardhan initiated a process to fill up the 10^th October batch to capacity as many people called to join on that date had not joined due to other commitments (other companies, M.S. , MBA, etc) and he called me on to join him in the process. At that time, I readily agreed but my father was against it and I put all the pessimism I could muster in a single mail and sent it to Harsha. That mail didn’t reek of pessimism. It WAS pessimism incarnated in electronic form and I regretted it from the point I thought of writing it but dad had spoken and if there’s one rule I follow, it is that I never go against a final decision taken by him even if it means that I have to hurt a very good friend of mine because owing to several such confrontations, I have never regretted the decision in the long term. So I backed out at a time when I would have been an asset to the project undertaken by Harsha and that too at a decisive point. Didn’t I believe in his plan? Didn’t I believe in the decision Harsha would take? I would stake my life on his decisions any day. I would blindly follow the path if he approved of it. There are a very few people that I have come to trust blindly. His plan was flawless. The concerns that I expressed in the mail that I had prepared never existed. I had to formulate them from my imagination. Harsha is one of them and I state it openly. I would do anything to get a joining date and his plan of action was perfect. I had considered it from all possible angles and had found that there were no gaps. Still I backed out. I didn’t know why I forced myself to do it. I just obeyed dad because he alone has the veto power in my decisions. That was on October 5. Harshavardhan Kunte’s efforts bore fruit and he has joined Tech Mahindra on 17^th October. I was never a part of the final plan and I didn’t get any such joining date. On 15^th October, my grandfather (mummy’s father) died in the morning. The news was a shocker because it was least expected. It was on the same date that I had got Harsha’s SMS saying that he had got the joining date for 17^th October. That news made my day in more ways than anyone can ever fathom. All through this long and agonizing wait for the joining date when I was ready to join on a notice of even ONE day, there was this one chance that I perhaps missed out on due to my own inaction. But as it turns out, I was needed here at home on that day and had I been in Pune, I would have had to come back and in any case, I would have missed having a last look at my grandfather. I would have missed unexpectedly talking to him for the last time on the last day of his life. 

I don’t know why but every time there is something unexpected, it turns out that it has been in my best interests though I don’t know it at that time. The Master Plan of my life is in action and is revealing itself to me, one page per day at a time and I have come to trust it till now...

Sach a great man!!

Sachin Tendulkar. A name that generates 13,60,000 search results in 0.06 seconds. A name that still sends shockwaves down the spines of bowlers. A name that calms a nation down. There are a very select few individuals who reach the level where the name itself is enough. Sachin Tendulkar is perhaps the primary example of this league. Having been around for 19 years, the sweet 16 year old boy that faced the wrath of the Pakistan pace battery has gone on to become a true legend. It is amazing how a player can retain his place in the team for so long and for the past two decades, Indians have known the fact that Cricket is synonymous with Sachin Tendulkar. This great man crossed yet another pinnacle and set up a new one when he crossed the 12000 run mark in Test cricket and in doing so, became the first person in the history of the game to do so. It seems a befitting tribute to the game itself that a player of Sachin’s caliber and status flags off the 12K barrier. For years together, the Indian innings in any game began and ended with Sachin and it was taken for granted that he was the sole member of the Indian team. That is perhaps the reason why no other cricketer has been able to generate the slogan that he has generated and to this date, everyone accepts the axiom that “Sachin is God” and that is the end of the discussion. For 19 years, the price of Sachin’s wicket has seen a continuous rise and to this date, his wicket is the sweetest reward that an opponent can get. For a man who made Shane Warne take off his T-Shirt and get it autographed, Sachin has had a remarkably notable career in the sense that he has never been involved in a single controversy and his smile has lightened up the arena countless number of times and still continues to do so. For a man who has survived two generations of youngsters including one that has now started to wither away with the announcement that this is Ganguly’s last series, Sachin’s caliber is truly awe inspiring. As is aptly said in the latest ad of the Royal Bank of Scotland, there are a few men who change the game itself and that list starts with Sachin Tendulkar.