Opinion An icon of middle age
With Sachin Tendulkars retirement,40-something Indians have lost a lodestar.
With Sachin Tendulkars retirement,40-something Indians have lost a lodestar.
The 2011 Census of India puts the proportion of the population less than 18 years old at 47.9 per cent,and those less than 35 constitute more than 60 per cent of the country. So those between 40 and 50 are already feeling stressed and pushed out by the energies of youth. But this demographic was still happy at being considered part of a middling bracket,not too young and not too old. And holding sway over the national imagination (with the three Khans of Bollywood being over 40 but not yet 50) and power (like several of the young people in politics,such as Rahul Gandhi and several other second-generation politicians and talkative CEOs) has meant gracefully accepting being in an age bracket that matters. This year,though,the 48-year-old Shah Rukh Khan played 40 (ergo old) in Chennai Express. This was a reality check,and secret opinion polls conducted among those in their 40s suggested flagging spirits and more intense conversations about knee caps,cholesterol and statin. But the lord was in heaven as long as Sachin Tendulkar was still being named in the India XI. Sachin walking off the field at the Wankhede last weekend has caused all the 40-plusers,pretending we are still young,to pause for a moment. Market places,advertisements and voter pitches are all crafted for those at least a decade-and-a-half younger,but that didnt matter,because the biggest affirmation of things really being okay was the fact that batting wonder Sachin,whose international cricket career began before most of our working careers,was still smashing the ball around. As he cut,drove,defended,bowled or even plodded his way through his spectacular cricketing life,he provided the perfect and deceptively comforting backdrop to each of our lives and its constancy.
That this isnt just an anxiety that affects those of us who are spectators and bystanders became clear when you saw several of the famous in that age bracket whether Aamir Khan or Rahul Gandhi sit and anxiously watch Sachin,hoping that some of his shine and glory would reflect upon them by association.
The Sachin phenomenon is often seen as part of 1990s India,a story of a changing India in terms of its politics,economy and society. But well before India became the protagonist in the India story,Sachin was internationally recognised and,even if grudgingly at first,acknowledged by our former colonisers as a master at their game. The 1983 World Cup victory was a spectacular underdog story,but Sachins was one of the top dog,of substance,grace and style as he made his way into the record books playing the game of the sahibs.
Other brilliant Indian cricketers have,of course,preceded Sachin some,even before we were independent,played for England and India both. But Sachin is no maharaja or blue-blooded wonder. Nor is he someone who boasts about the fact that he is self-made. He embodied good cricket and a classical temperament,which had sociologists rushing to study the no-fuss,calm-headed middle-class stability of middle India.
Of course,before the youth bulge became a talking point in India at the turn of the century,with it being important to many political leaders and advertisers,those of us in the Sachin age zone,despite ageing,imagined ourselves to be bit players in his story. We felt rejuvenated when he tirelessly stayed out in the long Test cricketing day,crafted his skill for the 50-over game and made clear that it was possible to lead despite not being named captain of the squad. We basked in Sachins glory of being picked to play by Yorkshire,who were as select as it gets. We felt empathetic about his injuries and younger just reading about his record-breaking genius.
For all of us in the Sachin age band,we have understated our age all this time,tried to get fitter,watching and measuring ourselves in a perverse and exaggerated way in Sachins lengthening shadow,holding out for little signs in our much smaller lives as Sachin was praised by greats and rivals Don Bradman,Hanif Mohammad and countless Wisden writers.
With apologies to T.S. Eliot,for those of us who have measured our lives in Sachins centuries,half-centuries,his 90s or ducks,and marked our ups and downs by the times Sachins form dipped only for him to regain it,his disappearance from the field poses a big question. Sachins last innings of 74 was not a laboured century or a dramatic duck. It was a kaleidoscope of all the Sachin-isms and shots that have gone on to make him the legend he is. Very Goldilocks and like his life,a perfect,effortless square drive. But us 40-somethings lost a lodestar.
seema.chishti@expressindia.com
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