But it was an Indian who played that day!

Scene1: An IT company’s work floor in Noida, UP, time around 5:30 PM. All employees park their job, discontinue or cancel the calls giving flimsy reasons and assemble in a single cubical in front of a computer which has cricinfo and cricbuzz WebPages opened, flashing match score and updates. Sachin has reached 185 and all were waiting and continuously cheering every single scored by him; and deep within praying for his double century.

Scene2: A rusty village in Bihar. A villager gets a call from his son’s school in kolkata. His son has been involved in many incidents in school in last one month and the principal was furious. Call goes on for an hour and the person’s mood is off for all over the day. Come evening and he watches the match, still disturbed by the thoughts of morning. By night Sachin scores his double century and he is back to his cheerful mood.

Scene3: Sachin scores his double century on the land of Madhya Pradesh, local govt decides to name a road and pavilion in his honour.

Scene4: President and Prime Minister of India hail his achievement and send congratulatory messages to Sachin.

Scene5: Kapil Dev who played for Haryana demands Bharat Ratan for Sachin. Govt. of Maharashta does the same.

Scene6: Bihar Legislative Assembly unanimously passes a resolution congratulating Sachin.
Scene7: All national and regional newspapers put sachin’s achievement on front page, eclipsing Railway budget on the same day.

Scene8: Record would always say “Highest Individual Score (ODI): Sachin Tendulkar(India): 200* Vs South Africa” till it is broken.

I waited for last two days to read what Thakraeys had to say on this.But I didn’t see any comment till today’s evening when I read on TOI website that they have seconded Maharashtra Govt. demand for Bharat Ratan award for Sachin.I was assuming their eyes would not appreciate this achievement under the negative goggles they seem to be wearing. Just month ago, they had blasted Sachin for saying that he was any Indian first. Sachin has said the same thing again; the difference is just that this time his bat has done all the talking. His double century inning brought happiness all over India; all enjoyed and loved his inning equally. We are proud of Maharashtra for giving such a gifted son to mother India. But it was an Indian who played that day.