Maestro_Part One

I did not know what was ‘fan-following’ per se. Then I saw him ‘paddle-sweep’ a ball pitched close to his legs and turning into him. The next moment it was hurtling towards the periphery of the ground – the boundary. No fielder bothered to move. They all knew it would be a four the moment it left the bat. The bowler wiped off the sweat off his brow. The bowler, the keeper and the captain had one thing in common – a demurely puzzled look. The partying crowd lapped up the effort with a spirit greater than ever before. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar – the humblest master of the game was doing what he does best – entertaining with the bat.

1998, Sharjah : India were up against the mighty Australians. Two things that evolved out of the series, assuming mythical proportions of the folklore kind later, were Sachin’s innings in the semi-final and the final.  Those present there must be boasting before their kids even today that they saw a man bring down the Aussies single-handedly. Post that tour, his resume` reads as – “Smacked the supremacy out of Aussies” under ‘achievements’. I remember the slender and tall pacer Michael Kasprowicz  (Novak Djokovic look-alike to some)  bowling his heart out. He consistently hit the best of spots with an uncanny discipline mixed with ferocity that is an Aussie trademark. But the composure with which Sachin greeted the venomous deliveries was unfathomable. When the ball was pitched slightly fuller than good length, the 3 kg willow would come down on it hard and firm. The ball would kiss its sweet spot and then dart towards the fence. Commentators would go gaga over the immaculately executed straight drive.

 If there was anything which can define elegance it is his straight drive. This shot brings a smile even on his face. Had the ball swung outwards even an inch (which, my friends, in dusty Sharjah-like conditions is akin to finding water in a desert), he would have made the subtlest of changes in his footwork and would have cover-driven it to four. The very-same game but a few overs later, Tom Moody pitched at the same spot but with lesser pace. Any ordinary person would have the same way as  earlier. However, Sachin is the keenest student of the game. That showed when he made  a little room and lofted the ball over the bowler’s head and away from all the fielders for another four – a calculated risk.  Had he played straight at Moody’s pace, it would have never been a four. Somewhere in the middle of the Indian innings, Kasprowicz was re-introduced. Now with the field spread, he just lifted the ball pitched close to his boot for a six. Minimum flamboyance. Maximum effect.  Everybody , even the Heavens, were spellbound. The magician was at work. Thanks to some excellent camera-work, the TV viewers could appreciate the landing of the ball on the sight screen better than the spectators on the ground.  Though in the semi-finals Indian team lost, yet they qualified for the finals.

Yet the opposition took the master blaster and his bravados lightly. They fielded the same players again. No bowler changed. Damien Fleming and Michael Kasprowicz were taken to the cleaners. Tom Moody was not spared either. But Sachin has reserved something special for presumably the most potent weapon in the Aussie armour – Shane Warne.  Having proved ineffective from over-the-wicket, Warne went round it to bowl on around Sachin’s legs. The plan was to make him look for singles only. He tweaked the ball and put on it as many revolutions as a human finger could. Sachin judged the flight early. He danced down the pitch and met the ball helped by an extended bat-lift. The power of the audacious attempt bore the sweetest of fruits. The ball flew off the bat. Seconds later the stadium got immersed in a roar as the ball got deposited in the stands.    

    

P.S.        This stuff that I am writing about comes straight from my head. So please do not verify it. This is just all that has impacted me. This is a mere recollection of exciting moments featuring the man that have got stuck in my head.              

THE ERA OF SPECULATION

Julius Caesar, the roman king, had once said – “I came. I saw. I conquered.” Steve Jobs went a few steps further and added to the famous quote. Now it reads as – “I Came. I Saw. iPod. iPhone. iPad. I Conquered.”

As observed recently that Jobs’ demise has sparked an outpour of tributes to his genius and innovative mind. You cannot but agree with all that is being said or posted or tweeted in his memory. Creative minds are at their best when it comes to paying their last token of respect to someone who has changed the world for good.

But with every passing moment the realization dawned on me as to what we have become as the ones who tread the planet earth. We are nothing but marketers, each one of the roughly four billion of us. We market everything, be it as little as a sugar cube or as gigantic as islands. Or for that matter as conventional as cereals to as uncharacteristic as death, tears etc. when someone precious (as precious as Steve Jobs) dies people have the habit of clinging onto the universal grief wagon. They express their sentiments in public. Some find a few takers (so called sympathizers), some don’t. That is the marketing of death. Companies have started to stock an inventory of products that would have never seen the light of day had Jobs been alive. From the iPhone 4S to books based on his life, everything has been designed as to cash in on the mass hysteria his demise has created. It is the moment when the time is perfect or, figuratively speaking, when the apple is ripe.

Social networking sites have given the people the option of expressing their day to day nitty-gritties on open forums. From hormone induced outbursts to subtle observations, everything gets rechristened as status updates. After you’ve put it out there for the world to see then starts the wait – ‘the wait for what someone would say or comment’. That is your wait for people to buy your update. Yes man, it is marketing at play again. The inherent law says- “The more scandalous the update, the greater the number of buyers”. Thus the idea that emerges out of everything around you is that it’s all about marketing.

We can take a look at the days that have passed and interpret the events that occurred with the wisdom that hindsight ushers with itself. As mankind evolved from pre-historic to the ancient age, the greatest invention i.e. the wheel was followed by the birth of civilization. Herein flourished the tradition of the exchange of mutually agreed upon things – the barter system. Soon, one thing led to another. Coins and then later on banks came into the picture. Then flaunting wealth to get oneself distinguished as elite became the order of the day. Society got divided into ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. Capitalist society was born which established the strength of marketing. It’s only when we come to the present that we realize, all the more, the effect of good marketing. Steve Jobs returns to the mind again as the one who played his cards smartly. Not only he experimented with technology, he also packaged them with aesthetic beauty (Remember there is a team of designers to be given credit for the sheer charm that an apple product brings to the eye). Jobs always built hype around his creations and made sure the product lived up to it.

2011 saw the undoing of another ‘talked about and not-so-ordinary’ person. No points for guessing. Yes it’s Osama Bin Laden. Perceived as the world’s most wanted fugitive in some circles and as the messiah in others, he rose from the ranks of a humble engineer to the chief architect of ‘Let’s bring down America’. He hurt her (America) where it hurt the most – the economy. He started his offensive at the height of symbolism quite literally. By bringing down the twin towers he brought to limelight the nether world of terrorism. He instigated Uncle Sam to dig his own grave. the hijacked planes crashing into the towers was a message clearly delivered. Terrorism was marketed well in the garb of holy Jihad. America burnt cash to avenge the suffering of its people. The costly wars pinched her dearly. Today its economy is badly bruised and its people are disoriented. The 9/11 attack design turned out to be the work of a nefarious mindset but a genius one nevertheless.

Both Jobs and Laden have one thing in common. Both have left behind an era of speculation as to who will fill in their shoes. Neither Zawahiri nor Tim Cook will find it easy to keep the trust of their so called buyers intact. But the people will definitely speculate as to whether Zawahiri will be as lethal as Laden or for that matter Cook as charismatic as Jobs.

But let me tell you that the next big thing to take the world by storm (good or bad depends on the perception) is already out there, not in the technocratic meccas of education like the MITs, the Harvards etc. or in the citadels of terrorism like Af-Pak border, but there in some ubiquitous garage (somewhere in the world) tweaking something or the other and improvising upon it just to catch your fancy. Which one amongst these tweakers will win the race is a matter of speculation. But that, my friend, will decide the future of mankind.