I learnt not to misuse my freedom: Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar recalled the role of his cricket coach Ramakant Achrekar and his parents in his upbringing and credited the upbringing of his two kids, Sara and Arjun to his wife Anjali Tendulkar.

The legendary batsman was speaking at the launch of a book on child health care, titled Even When There Is a Doctor authored by senior pediatrician Yashwant Amdekar along with Rajesh Chokhani and Krishnan Sivaramakrishnan. The book describes the role of an individual or parents in improving their child’s health. While talking about the book, Sachin recalled his childhood.

“I started playing for India but before that I got to spend a lot of time to spend with my coach Achrekar Sir. Coaches and gurus are like our parents, because we end up spending so much time with them. We learn so many things from them,” he said.

Tendulkar recalled that Achrekar Sir had his own way of conveying things. “Sir was strict. At times, he was extremely strict but also very caring and loving. Sir did not say ‘well played’ to me ever, (but) I knew that if Sir has taken me to have bhelpuri or paani puri, he is happy. I have done something nice on the field, so that was his way of conveying,” he added.

The legendary former Indian cricketer said he was a naughty child but was lucky to have a balanced family to control him.

 “I was a naughty child, difficult to manage… it’s good to be naughty but also it is important to respect elders. I was extremely lucky to have a balanced family, my father who was always extremely calm, never got angry or agitated … and so did my mother… they gave me freedom, pampered me, but never spoiled me,” he recollected.

“When the situation demanded firmness, they were firm and right words were chosen. They never shouted at me, but just by the tone and language I could understand. Even when I was 3-4 years-old, I knew I was not supposed to do this,” he recollected.

He also recalled an incident before his international career, which made him realise that with freedom comes responsibility.

“I must have been 13 or so, when I had to go to Indore to attend a national camp for a month and those were the days when mobiles were not available. If you had to communicate with your family, you had to write letters.

“My parents gave me a lot of freedom, they had that confidence me, I was going for a month and my mother was worried and my father was telling her he is the sharpest and cleverest among all of us. He knows, he is a mature guy, I felt brilliant.. when I look back, with that freedom somewhere in my subconscious mind it registered that with freedom comes responsibility and I should not misuse my freedom.”

He credits his wife Anjali for the upbringing of his children Sara and Arjun. “As far as parenting is concerned I wouldn’t want to take any credit, the person behind me (Anjali), I would like to give her all the credit. More so, because we both were doing well in our careers. And when you know that you have a promising future and yet decide to take a back seat... I have openly thanked her on many occasions. I would like to thank her in front of the medical fraternity also for everything that she has done,” he signed off.

Tendulkar stands in support of blind chess

1]A chess follower, Sachin Tendulkar tweeted in support of the National A Chess Championship for the visually challenged organised by the All India Chess Federation for the Blind.

2]“Chess lovers, join me in wishing all the participants of @aicfb_in's National Chess Championship for the Blind 2018 (Mumbai) best of luck. (3-11 Feb) All the best, @charudatta64! #LetsPlay,” he tweeted.

3]Charudatta Jhadhav, President of AICFB, a (blind) chess champion himself and a National Award winner for the Best Disabled Employee of the year, is spearheading the event along with a lot of other initiatives for blind chess. The event is supported by the only corporate organisation, HPCL and Chess Base India who have got financial support from the entire chess community for the event. The event started on  February 3 at the Andheri Sports Complex and will end on February 11.

 4]Total 14 (visually challenged) players have been selected to participate in this prestigious tournament. The winner of this championship will be crowned India’s ‘National Blind Chess Champion’ for the year 2018. These top players will form Indian teams for the forthcoming ‘World Team Championship’ and ‘World Junior’ for the blind to be held in Bulgaria in July 2018 and Poland in August 2018 respectively.