The And The Bowled Beautiful

A name reverberating into the wind slipping through the tensegrity of Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. A barrage of risen goosebumps and a million misty eyes. That day, the floodlights were not needed. The sun was wide awake in the hour of an excellency’s farewell. The farewell of SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR (SRT). Head held high in emotion, carrying the pride of his service of twenty-four years, stood his wife, Dr Anjali Tendulkar by his side, just as she has always.

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The Team: The Notorious And The Calm

An otherwise Mr. Compose could not sleep peaceful nights as a child without tossing and turning, east to west. He was a notorious boy whose passion and perseverance proved remarkably resilient in anything he did – mischiefs or cricket. Falling off trees or getting wounded just above the eye, SRT knew no bounds when it came to anything his heart answered for. With wet pockets from a single set of cricket clothes and vigorous training sessions under coach Ramakant Vithal Achrekar to being known as the God of Cricket, SRT has precisely walked the path of learnings traversing through time.

The significance of a father cannot be spoken in words, especially for SRT as he was born blessed with two such figures – his father Prof. Ramesh Tendulkar and his halfbrother Mr. Ajit Tendulkar, a former club cricketer himself. Both of these gentlemen proved pivotal in synergising his feral energies onto the field. Shifting schools and buses lumbering with his cricket kit, SRT spent major years with his uncle and aunt (Mr. Suresh and Mrs. Mangla Tendulkar) in Dadar for proximity to his school Shardashram Vidya Mandir and training sessions at Shivaji Park.

Dr. Anjali Tendulkar, his partner entered the world six years earlier than SRT to a Gujarati industrialist father Mr. Anand Mehta, a seven-time National Bridge Champion and English mother Mrs. Annabel Mehta, a prominent social worker. Anjali completed her schooling from Bombay International School and studied medicine at the Grant Medical College, Mumbai. With an intellect braised from business, art academics and philanthropy, Anjali became a paediatrician pursuing her love for science. Having abdicated her potential career as a paediatrician, Anjali took another leap fulfilling her prodigious roles - being an inspiration in SRT’s life and a philanthropist in Annabel Mehta’s NGO ‘Apanalaya’.