I would always say that children born after 1995 are really blessed.They have every comforts of modern life like smartphones, color televisions, bikes, cars, Laptop, PlayStation..! Everything..! But out of all these Cricket was the dominating sport and had created a craze among these kids. I was born in 1998- a period in which the Indian Cricket team had great Legends such as Ganguly, Viru, Kumble, The Wall.. But my idol had something else which made him to outstand all the other players.He is the Master Blaster..! Little Master..! God of Cricket..!My musings of not having a companion to play cricket came to an end when my brother was born.
The front veranda became our play ground. It was good enough for us since we both were just 8 and 5 years old respectively. Sachin and I used to play at our veranda with a plastic ball and a light wooden piece somewhat between a stick and a log. After my persistent crying and fasting my brother was named Sachin. We were lucky because our parents would never ever deny our evening game even at the time of exams. Being the elder one I'd never given Sachin the chance to bat.He would continuously bowl enduring the pain in his little arms with the hope that he'd get his turn to bat. But I'll always fool him by bowling just an over or two.
I longed to buy a Bat. An MRF bat..! The brand which my idol uses. I was very much afraid to tell this to my father. But I badly wanted it. Like every other child I started nagging my mom to buy me an MRF bat. My mom loved me the most and she couldn't bear the sight of my crying. But my family was in a financially critical condition then. How could you expect a 8 year old boy to understand the family situations and financial issues. My mom made a promise that she'll get me the bat as soon as possible.
Two years had passed since the promise and I haven't got it. Now I started finding out what bothers my parents. They always talked about my sibling- Sachin. I know that he falls ill often.But why don't they buy me a bat..? I started nagging my mom again. She said with a worried sigh that Sachin's medical expenses are constantly increasing and she would get me the bat at once the expenses become manageable. My rage turned towards my brother for he's the reason behind the delay. I started beating him and pinching him without any reasons. He would then complain about me to our mom. But I would never bother about him.
A month later when I came back from school my mom said that she had a surprise for me..! She handed over my dream, my love in my hands with a lonely tear drop trickling from the corner of her eyes. A well finished wooden bat of light weight with a red gripper. The sticker on that glitters with those three letters 'M'.. 'R'.. 'F'..! with Sachin Tendulkar's printed autograph. My brother came running behind me to take a look at the bat. I wanted to avenge him so I asked him to bowl and I didn't even let him touch the bat. He wept, he shouted over the top of his voice, he complained but nothing melted my heart.Suddenly I saw him collapsing.Blood was dripping from his little mouth.
I got frightened and cried out to my mom. She took him on her lap and wiped the blood from his mouth. I stood there crying when Sachin was shivering.Then his eyes were fixed on the roof. For the first time in my life I saw my dad fighting with his tears but finally he away his stubbornness and tears rolled down his cheeks.
I asked my mom to take Sachin to the hospital but she threw a grave smile. She told me that Sachin is no more. He had been suffering from blood cancer these days and those were the reasons for the family crisis.But the doctors had gave up on him. Thus I found out the reason behind my new MRF bat and my mom's tears when she handed it to me.
It suddenly dawned on me that I won't have any companion henceforth to bowl for me. Sachin wanted to bat with that MRF bat but I didn't even permit him to touch that.. and this eve, he's gonna be burnt. Mom told me that it is called the 'funeral'. He was placed in between a number of wooden logs. I saw his face for the last time. I went close to him, placed the MRF bat on his corpse before it was burnt with him...