Till November 16 2013, the only thing constant in my life was my unwavering devotion to Sachin Tendulkar, yet when the news broke out that his autobiography would be soon hitting the markets, I could not get myself excited about it. I didn’t even think of reading it coz no book ever, not even his own, can do justice to the man, his cricket and the joy he brought to a lot of youngsters like me. It is for this very reason, I will never read any book on Tendulkar, for whatever I wanted to know or learn from the man, is from the time he spent in the middle, batting. Also, I want to believe I know my Tendulkar, or at least the version of him which inspires me and I don't want to go beyond what works for me.

I was always the one who defended Tendulkar online till my hands and eyes ached with so much typing and processing drivel, but I know that he is not spotless in his career when taken in its entirety. Much has been made of his walking incident in the 2011 World Cup League Match against the West Indies, but I know at least of one other incident when he did not walk after he knew he hit the ball. The comparisons with God are never to be taken seriously and are fun to play along. They just add an inconsequential side to the Legend, but Tendulkar is a greater man than that and people claiming him to be God know it more than others. 

Off the field, Tendulkar is not a very fascinating man as one can gather from his interviews and post-match conferences. He utters the correct words, comes across as diplomatic as possible, distances himself from any sort of controversy and speaks positively of everyone around him. There’s scarcely any wit or sarcasm, it’s almost like he was reading from a book of diplomacy. I don’t idolize him off the field and contrary to what everyone says I’m not a huge fan of his last speech on 16th Nov either. It was a good long honest speech but not very entertaining. I thought his autobiography would be on similar lines and this review confirmed it is. 

The only things that could have made me pick up his book then would be his views on match fixing, the Mike Dennis affair when he was accused, rightly of course, of ball tampering, Spot Fixing in IPL, Tax evasion issues on his Ferrari. Yet, I know that he will be evading all these issues with his characteristic political correctness, and instead the focus would be more on his family life, the values he upholds as a man et al. I have to confess that his outburst against Greg Chappell was unexpected but when we consider the other issues he could raise his voice against, and the grave seriousness of those, Greg appears to be a soft target after all. 

Whatever reasons he might have in writing his biography, they were all achieved a million times more emphatically on the Cricket field and his second innings as a writer won’t be adding much to his envious repertoire. The virtues of being passionate, perseverance, the importance of being motivated, of loving the game and playing it in a way he felt was right, were all demonstrated every time he walked on to the Cricket field and took guard. In comparison the biography, written in collaboration with Boria Mazumdar definitely pales.  

In another recently released, and a rather explosive Autobiography of Kevin Pietersen, there is a letter by Rahul Dravid to Pietersen on how to play spin bowling. That is the sort of detail that Dravid has committed himself to, to achieve his greatness. Had KP written to Sachin, I’m not sure if he would be of some help to KP. I’m not saying that he won’t but just that he would have difficulty in explaining what comes naturally to him. His advice mostly would be to trust in one’s instincts, be positive, play the ball on the merit or other such stuff. His Biography will be just like that.