That 40s generation!

Marinated in the flood of emotions on Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell but still looking for more, I sat trawling the micro-blogging site Twitter late on Saturday night.

And my somnambulistic expedition ran into a tweet that read, “thank you Rahul Dravid”. Wait a minute, where did that come from? And then I woke up.

The outpouring of emotion on Sachin’s farewell was, in a sense, yesterday once more for that 40s generation. As the last of the 40-year-olds stepped out of the batting line-up, the audience applauded. And in Sachin’s thank yous, we joined him in saluting other 40-year-olds whom we silently let go — Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, V. V. S. Laxman and Anil Kumble, to name a few.

We watched Sachin grow from that gawky, curly-haired 16-year-old touring Pakistan, some of us too still in our teens. And we have felt the pride when other globally-recognisable Indian sportstars make it to the top, by sheer dint of their hard work: When Rahul Dravid famously kissed his India cap after a win against the Aussies, when Leander Paes won the US Open doubles, or as a photojournalist recounts, when a lady came up to him in Portugal and instantly connected India with Vishwanathan Anand.

Celebrate them

The several-times world chess champion is at present locked in battle over 64 squares. His generation put the pride back into our lives – a pride threatened by corruption and scams. When there was despair because of the paucity of leaders or the depths to which public discourse could descend — it was this generation of sportstars through their brilliant performances that held out hope and provided inspiration. And the icing on the cake, they were seen as being nice guys too!

However belated, we need to celebrate these heroes rather than find reasons to run down their records or ring the final bell on their careers. After all, if people across age-groups could take a page out of the lives of any of these icons and bring some of their dedication, determination and humility into their own lives, we would have many more reasons to feel proud as a nation.

Age no bar

Incidentally, entertainers such as A. R. Rahman and Shah Rukh Khan also attract audiences globally, and no guessing the age-group they are in!

Now before more names are thrown at me, from Dhyan Chand to Dhanraj Pillay, Milkha Singh to P. T. Usha, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore to Abhinav Bindra, I submit there are unsung and forgotten heroes, above and below the 40-year band!

It is just that as a fellow in the same generation, I took the liberty of looking at this proud, yet sad Sachin farewell moment, through the eyes of 40-plus folks who do indeed see it “as the end to their childhood”..

But maybe we need to hold back the tears for, as someone said, this is not the end, just a bend for a change in scene. In fact, with Sachin saying that 40 is the new 20, it’s time for us too, to turn that hat around and celebrate many more meaningful innings still to come from these heroes.

COMMENT NOW