| An occupational hazard in the news business is that some
very significant events happen after the deadline. It presents a dilemma and there are two
options: delay publication or write about it at the next available opportunity. One golden
rule of publishing is never to delay a cycle. The other option, missing a newsworthy
event, can be frustrating. We were forced into that corner last week. Our cover story went
to the press on Friday, a day too early to cover the fallout of assembly election results.
We did try to anticipate the event as best as we could an issue earlier with an exclusive
opinion poll to gauge the mood of the electorate and through articles which analysed
post-poll strategies of the BJP and the Congress. Then, what we had relentlessly pursued for two months came through. We had
written a major story on Sachin Tendulkar in May in which we called him the Best Batsman
in The World. After all he had just hit two centuries to win India a tournament in
Sharjah. Last month he repeated the feat on the same ground, again scoring two centuries.
But even in the overkill of coverage that a phenomenon like Sachin generates there was
something missing. We wanted to know what he really thinks, how he plans, what really
drives him to be what he is. One thing certainly is pure grit, a desire to overcome, a
flat refusal to give up. Associate Editor Rohit Brijnath, who wrote this cover story and
who first met Sachin a decade ago, got a taste of it last year. In a Colombo hotel, they
played what Brijnath thought was a casual, friendly game of table tennis. "Except, he
simply refused to let me win," says Brijnath, who played 10 games in a row.
"Every time I raised my game, he raised his." Brijnath finally caught up with
Tendulkar in Mumbai last week. His story goes beyond describing mere wizardry. It is about
a sporting genius' inner self.
(Aroon Purie) |
