In Master Blaster’s masterclass

Gaurav Kanthwal

Two decades of a blemish-free public life with a godly status made Sachin Tendulkar a worthy subject of an autobiography, but then these two decades of adulation lived under the prying eyes of media may have virtually left him with nothing new to tell. Tendulkar’s every move, every action has been dissected from every conceivable angle umpteen times. How he plays his shots, what is his personal life like, what does he love to eat, where does he go — every minute detail of his live has already been the subject of innumerable news reports, articles and features as well as many books.

Still, when Tendulkar came up with his autobiography Playing It My Way co-authoured by Boria Majumdar, it generated widespread interest, for it was the first official account of his life in his own words.

Three years have passed by since the release of his autobiography. And in a natural progression of things, the publishers have followed it up with a new edition,  aimed specially at the young readers, so as to reach out to a wider readership.

Sachin Tendulkar: Chase Your Dreams is a young readers’ edition of the original autobiography, Playing it My Way. In this 245-page book, the legendary cricketer talks about his life’s journey. As a young boy, he was crazy about tennis but then he fell in love with cricket and it became his life-long passion.

The book begins with Tendulkar’s message to the youngsters,  “Dreams do come true, but first you have to find your dream and believe in it completely.”

In 40 short chapters, Tendulkar traces his life’s journey through many small and big moments that shaped up his career and how his family values helped him maintain a balance in his quest for perfection. The text is accompanied by illustrations that capture some interesting moments of Master Blaster's life which even an older reader might find fascinating.

At the end of each chapter, there is Sachin’s super-tip and trivia which the younger lot may relish as much as the details of his life.

The recurrent hyperbole — the most intense series of my career, the toughest tournaments I have played, the best ever season in international career, one of our best wins away, the greatest moment of my cricketing journey — without an accompanying backgrounder or further explanation is abrupt and jarring to some extent.

But by chopping long match reports that are abounding in the original version, the publishers have tried to make it a crispy experience for the younger readers. Many readers are bound to find the slimmer version of the book more interesting than the original one!

To spice up things, Tendulkar says there are many incidents in his autobiography which even his children, Arjun and Sarah, might not be aware of.

One of them could easily be Sachin’s knock of 93 runs during the Super-six match against Sri Lanka in the 2003 ICC World Cup when the Maestro, with an upset stomach, batted for more than three hours with tissue papers in his innerwear.

One does not need to be a Sachin fan to tell that he scored 100 centuries in international cricket but how many can tell the number of times he got out in 90s? (The answer is 27 times).

By reproducing Tendulkar’s emotional farewell speech in verbatim, the publishers have thoughtfully rekindled the memories of that historic day (November 16, 2013) when Tendulkar bade goodbye to the sport at his homeground, the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Not only is this abridged version of the autobiography written keeping children’s perspective in mind, the proceeds from this book will also be used to tackle malnutrition in children and the provision of clean water to the underprivileged.