Happy Birthday, Steve!

He turned 40 today... the one man i have never seen for real, but who i owe most of my little achievements to.

I used to laugh sometimes when i thought about how i always took a minute alone with his picture just before every one of my 10th standard board exams...thought it was kiddish, then did the exact same thing this year during the 12th standard exams. I still laugh about it, but i know it will continue.

The awe started, if i remember correctly, during the '99 World Cup when he got his team to win 7 matches in a row to not only stay in the tournament, but also to subsequently win it. The adoration came soon after, when i read about Udayan, the school he has set up in Kolkata for the benefit of underprivileged kids. The admiration began when he played both, cricket and Holi with them.

"There are only two ways to go in a crisis- either you beat it, or the crisis beats you. I hate being beaten" ... the 23 words that have guided me almost unscathed through umpteen hopeless situations, a handful of absolutely horrendous maths tests and a semi-broken heart.

I could go on and on and on about all he has achieved, all he has done for other people and on all the inspiration that many many people the world over, including patients of terminal illnesses have drawn from him...but i can't , one because i know of only a fraction, two because in a weird way, its not very Steve Waugh to imply things...even angelically good things (and sometimes satanically good things when he scrapes australia through against us!!!).

Happy Birthday, Steve... i would have been a different person if, 40 years ago, one baby had not been delivered in some hospital in New South Wales...

... but my country would have won a lot more cricket matches!