Salaam Sachin Conclave by India Today Group!!!

975th BLOG POST -->>

       

        I got a mail 4 days ago for the Salaam Sachin conclave by India Today asking me to report the event online after kindly attending this unique event. I took no time to accept the beautiful and lucky offer and headed to Hotel Trident, Nariman Point, Mumbai on 12th November, 2013. The event started at 12.30 PM with the session of Ajit Tendulkar speaking about Sachin, his life and life after retirement. Ajit Tendulkar, as always maintained his composure and talked about how he saw Sachin Tendulkar's skills in his childhood itself and learned that he can be a good cricketer. He also revealed about the incident when the tyre of Sachin's car got punctured and they shifted to auto-rickshaw with all his kits. He told how people got surprised to see Sachin Tendulkar coming out of taxi with all his kits in the rickshaw. Later on, in the 2nd session came Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar where they told about how their team only planned about bowling Sachin Tendulkar out in the pre-match meetings. 

   

         Later on, Suresh Raina and Javagal Shrinath took the stage and shared their experiences with Sachin Tendulkar in the dressing room. Suresh Raina told about how he encourages players, motivates them and tells them about being serious towards Cricket. Javagal Shrinath told how he, as a Captain, used to help them all in developing their games. He also told how Sachin made him bat in the Top-order which made him feel good about himself. He joked about Sachin insisting all of them to listen Kishore Kumar's songs and the songs which sometimes they didn't like; yet to keep his respect, they appreciated the music. The 4th session was brightened by Sania Mirza, the tennis player and Sushil Kumar, the Olympic silver-medalist where they were telling about their experience of watching Sachin Tendulkar play being a sportsperson themselves of different sports. Sania Mirza said that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli play wonderful Cricket but still the game would not be the same after Sachin Tendulkar. Sushil Kumar consistently kept saying that he wants to see Sachin as a Sports Minister because being a sportsperson himself, Sachin will understand what exactly the sportsperson of all sports from India needs. 

     

         Another brightening session after one or two was by Rajiv Sukla who spoke with his heart. He tells how Sachin concluded the whole scenario with peace when John Wright slapped Sehwag and the whole team was insisting that the coach should apologize Sehwag in front of the team. He also made it clear that Sachin is not going to join politics as his father asked him not to. For Bharat Ratna, he said that one talk always came in between- Sachin still playing the game. So now, as the retirement has come, he may get the award soon. Then came, no one other than Sunil Gavaskar who discussed Sachin through his eyes. He shared some of his views about Sachin retiring on the right time, what made Sachin so consistent and about his records. Sunil Gavaskar was quite resistant in complimenting Sachin's career but yet he said some incredible things which forced the audience to clap.



As soon as the legend Gavaskar completed his session, another legend came on the stage, Brian Charles Lara, the man who needs no introduction. He said some beautiful things like "I don't have a son. But if my son were a cricketer and I was given a choice to watch either him or Sachin bat, I would opt for Sachin. His balance and footwork are for all to emulate." In all of his talks, he always kept Sachin over himself in the comparison. He also said that it's an achievement in itself for him that he is been compared to a player like Sachin Tendulkar. And while Brian Lara was speaking on the stage, Mrs. Anjali Tendulkar entered the hall and everyone started clapping. Though she didn't have any session but her presence itself enlightened the hall. Later, Dilip Vengsarkar, Bishan Singh Bedi and Kiran More shined the stage with their talks on Sachin Tendulkar. 

              In the last Cricketing session, Gautam Gambhir, Rameez Raja, Mohd. Azharuddin, Brian Lara and Shoaib Akhtar created magic on the stage. They together discussed as to who is greater- Sachin or Bradman. It was a wonderful session indeed with Gautam Gambhir being silent all the while, Rameez Raja commenting in between and making the audience laugh, Azharuddin being a serious speaker and Brian Lara and Shoaib Akhtar still being the ones to make audience laugh again and again. Shoaib Akhtar can be said as the diamond of the conclave as he added stars to it. In the end of the conclave came Abhishek Bachchan who made people jump from their seats. He discussed as to how he met Sachin for the first time, the memories that Sachin has given us, how his father is his biggest fan and how he will always miss him no matter what. As India Today claimed, yes, this has been the biggest conclave ever held by them for a personality. The documentary on Sachin was a complimentary for all of us. 

Some great Headlines from the events:

• After Qadir's bashing, Imran Khan was scared of Tendulkar: Kiran More
• Gavaskar and Tendulkar are greatest players ever: Azharuddin
• Virat Kohli could be the next Sachin, says Dilip Vengsarkar
• Sachin and Bradman can't be compared as they represented different eras, says Sunil Gavaskar
• Sonia proposed Sachin's name for Rajya Sabha, says Rajeev Shukla
• Sachin Tendulkar's humility impressed me a lot: Abhishek Bachchan
• Sachin should become sports minister after he retires, says Sushil Kumar
• Reverse-swing! Shoaib backtracks on 'Tendulkar feared me' claims
• Sachin didn't cry after 1996 World Cup semi-final, says Srinath

 Thanks.

 ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!