He is immortal..

I first saw Him in bits and pieces when the tournament started. But, when I saw His cover-drive, I became a die-hard fan of Him. Even in that match, when He got out the scoreboard read 99/1, soon, the team was reduced to 120/8. Fifteen years later, I saw Him with naked eyes and He was still the same person. No amount of adulation or pride can ever get to His head. I have seen ordinary mortals succumb to fanfare and the pride that they carry with them and perish, but, immortals have their own way.

Time and again He was tested. With injuries, with atheists’ ridiculous criticism, with God testing His own counterpart, but, He came out strong. He came out victorious. Five World Cups later when I see Him donning the dark blue jersey, not an ounce of the spirit to win the coveted cup has reduced. When, His team won the toss and the 39,000 people in the ground knew that He was going to come out and bless them with an avalanche of beautiful stokes, but He chose not to. The umpire didn’t hear the nick, so didn't the rest in the ground, yet, He walked back. The reviews would have helped reaching a decision on His return, yet, He displayed His integrity.

He came back to the field and was fielding in the opposite corner to where I was seated. Every ball that went towards Him was cheered. Every time He went near the ropes, six year olds to sixty year olds cheered His name. And He waved back. He knew He had disappointed them earlier in the day, but, a wave of His hands to the mad crowd made their day, if not years to come. Finally, in the last half hour of the game, He came towards our side of the ground. And we called out His name and He waved back. A man of His stature waved back to us and I had Goosebumps all over my hands. I realized that I can never realize what He is made of. So much pressure from millions around the globe, so much expectations and still He has His head on His shoulders. I don’t think that is humanly possible. I haven’t taken His name and still you know who He is. He is not the greatest because of His records, but, because of the person He is. He is God and I will sacrifice my life for Him and so will billion others.

Zoozoo vs Sachin!!

The focus shifts to cricket for the last time before the world comes to an end in 2012 - One of the main reasons for its end being Sachin Tendulkar’s expected retirement. Aal-Baal News has strong rumours that Vodafone has been reported to be have cashed in on the big fish. In a bid to strengthen its market share in the 3G sector as well as the forthcoming 4G, Vodafone has initiated talks with the God of cricket. The Messiah of cricket, who has given respite to billions of cricket fans all over the world from poverty, corruption and suppression with his style, performance and charisma, has previously done ads with Airtel and Reliance in the same sector.

When Jithan Ramesh Welingkar of Ogilvy India was contacted over the issue, he was surprised on how the insider talks became so prominent. Blaming it on the Superman-3G-zoozooo for letting clandestine information out, he divulged certain important details exclusively to Aal-Baal News. Mr. Welingkar who shares the middle name with the run machine has conceded to the fact that they have zeroed in on Sachin, because, wherever he goes, people follow him; which in a way is Vodafone’s ex-marketing strategy. Elaborating on the “wherever”, he said that even when Sachin gets out, the whole team, batsman after batsman follows him back to the dressing room. “This is one pattern that can be unanimously seen over the past 20 years and it is still continuing. More than the billion followers of Sachin’s batting supremacy, it has always been his teammates who has consistently followed him over the years”, iterated Jithan.

When asked whether the Superman-3G-zoozoo will take a hit when Sachin’s ad takes the centre stage, Mr. Jithan said that they have a long time to go before formulating and roping in the resources. “Sachin is the person whom we follow, but, the pug which personified the network will be replaced by a dummy Indian team, which gets all-out before a special pooja is made in the nearby temple for the same cause not to happen.” opined Jithan. “He is our perfect representation and we at Ogilvy have tried and tested patterns.” explained the issue with an example of the recent India-South Africa World Cup match.

Aal-Baal News’ personal opinion on this issue is that Vodafone and Ogilvy has realized it better late than never. They thought that the Indian team will improvise on their mistakes and won’t follow the pattern for such a long time, but Ogilvy were consistently proved wrong. If the deal goes through, it will be the perfect stage to express why India loses every time Sachin scores big and finally zoozoo will have to work their ass off, if they have one, to survive competition from the original Superman.