Next best thing to God !!

It was September 2003, when the summer internship GD/PIs for our batch were being conducted as a feverish pace in NITIE. A global manufacturing giant had come down to campus looking for summer trainees. We were told that they would have a standard selection procedure, i.e. a 30 minute Group Discussion followed by a Personal Interview. But after we entered the GD room, we realized that this was not going to be any ordinary GD. Infact, this was not going to be a GD at all. Instead, we were given an imaginary scenario, and each one of us had to take turns and speak for 2 minutes about it.

He scenario was this-

“You are passenger in an aircraft which has developed a major technical fault. It cannot bear the weight of all the passengers in it. The Captain has decided to jettison some of the passengers to save the lives of others. In order to give a fair chance to everyone, the Captain has asked each passenger to tell him why he/she should not be jettisoned. Those people whose arguments are most convincing will be allowed to stay put. Others will be pushed overboard. You have 2 minutes to convince the Captain that you should not be the one to die. Now, the catch is, you are free to assume any personality you like, for this purpose.”

One by one, each of us took turns, assumed various personalities, and gave arguments in our favour. One fellow said his life was important since he was India’s Air Chief Marshall, another said he should not die as he was Bill Gates. One guy even tried to defend himself by assuming the personality of Bush (it doesn’t get dafter than this) !!

Finally, it was my turn. I blurted out something like this.. “I want to live because my life is precious, not just for me, but for 1 billion Indians. Because I am Sachin Tendulkar. Each time I go out to bat, I carry the hopes and expectations of all Indians. Each time I hit a boundary, I bring smiles to 1 billion faces. Each time I score a century, 1 billion people forget their day to day worries, and celebrate with me. I want to live, because my life gives happiness to all Indians.”

As I left the podium after this, I felt like a boxer who had just delivered the knock-out punch to all this opponents.

I write all this today not because I want to praise myself, but because today, all of a sudden, the true impact of the words I uttered on that day have hit me. Because, today Tendulkar has returned to international cricket after 8 months.

6 months back, his arm was under a surgeon’s knife.

4 months back, his arm was in a sling.

2 months back, he has not even able to pick up his bat.

And what does he do on his first game back ?? He scores a blistering 93 of 96 balls.

And you wonder, was he really injured for so long or was it a hoax.

Thanks Sachin, for bringing smiles 1 billion faces.. yet again..

As someone tightly said, “In India, first there is God, then there is Sachin Tendulkar !!”