Anatomy of Indian Sports Governance

 Around the time of August in 2010, while I was working in Delhi at Commonwealth Games (CWG), i first witnessed the uneasiness surrounding the preparation of the games and competition. It was just the beginning, watching Times Now expose several irregularities; weeks before the games began and yet with each accusation surfaced the CWG went on. Personally, i credit the success of execution during Games time to the entire workforce who gave more than their best to ensure not all was bad. They just wanted to their job irrespective of the hurdles and each one deserved a medal for the efforts.

 The CWG incident summed up a quote from a T-shirt I had picked up in Delhi. The occasion was perfect to flaunt it; more than a personal statement, i felt the atmosphere was just right to wear the quoted tee. “Come to India, one billion people can’t go wrong” – the quote went something like that. It did catch many eyes and even got comments on that being a nice shirt. Yes, i knew the white round neck T-shirt of mine was good because of the quote. Such is the power of words, when used can create ripples. Alright, that might be a bit stretchy, but atleast it held attention. A lot of foreign work staff, including many of my colleagues were waiting for the games to be completed in order to rush back to their homes; for them the holiday of exploring India besides work was over. The constant scrutiny of the games was just too hot to handle coupled with the Delhi heat. The work culture of few people determined the way Indians worked in general. It was tough, but we went on.

Tantra's Shirt

 And so, CWG turned out to be the best ever India could manage with the resources and people we had at that time. Indian Athletes won medals, Delhi infrastructure improved slightly, a lot of the workforce got their life lessons and they moved on once the curtains were drawn to the event.

 Not all was pleasant after all and this was solely on the part of governance. Call it corruption, mismanagement or whatever that comes to one’s mind – it is all part of governance. I learnt a lesson or two in governance from the Commonwealth Games.

 The publicity the event gathered was in foreign media and mind you, even the non-commonwealth nations found it interesting. How a country with billion people can go wrong when it came to governing a sports event?  Well, it did and simply because India has no sporting tradition of hosting international events except for playing. There was never a priority from the Government to include Sports in their bucket list and rightly so. Even more appalling is the fact that, there were few attempts to change the mindset. I felt in 2003, hosting CWG will pave a way for all-round sports culture in India. Only few bricks were removed from the wall of bad governance and it magnified in 2010 when media was penetrative more than ever before.

 If only Olympic and non-cricket Sports had money, they would have been different. Allegations consistently on cricket administration was heard regularly, but it could manage as the game developed with better infrastructure and more money for the players. But the question of governance remained and remains untouched to this date.

 There were visionaries in Indian Sports setup but perished because of the system, as the might of rival faction was just too strong to counter. Very few start their professional careers thinking they will be corrupted for rest of their lives. The decision makers are honorary and hence unaccountable.

 The people (non-decision makers and paid staff) who chose to remain silent will be silenced forever and they will be in the setup only for the execution of the task. Though they don’t need to agree to a lot of things that happen, they earn their wages to survive in India. So the stage is set for the battle of egos. Simple men with vision are blindfolded forcefully or the victims choose to remain blindfolded only because they do need that ‘extra’ tension in their lives. Tell me, what are the odds of David winning against Goliath - One in ten?

Is it assuring to be with those nine men than wage a sole battle? It comes down to choice and the vision of an individual.

 Now, to governance part – I am open to an individual who can wear multiple hats as long as his intentions are clear and clean when it comes to decision making. Multiple hats dims one’s thought process in passing important regulations. Heading a sports organisation is a voluntary job and only established business men or a politician can easily don that hat. Why are such individuals voted into the system?

 Is it because of the influence they can generate among many Government, public and private sectors in getting the necessary permissions? Do they help athletes in securing a job in one of these sectors simply by their name appearing in the recommendation letter or by means of a humble phone call? While one cannot ignore these facts or benefits they provide for less privileged sports, my question is – Should such favours be made only if they head the organisations?

 The saga will continue but who will own the moral hat when there is suspicion. A leader is the one who steps down and comes back after proven innocent. Sadly, in India if the judicial process would be swift we could have seen many instances of people being suspended upon inquiry. I lament, it is not so. Hence we have the organisation heads refusing to step down and will go out only when forced out.

 Crisis is part of everyday life and so that doesn’t mean events must be stopped or banned. India went ahead with CWG for the sake of Sports alone, and two years later had a successful London Olympics (when compared with past Indian performances). Cricket too will move on amidst all this mess - But at what cost?

 I wish to see a day where the heads of the organisation communicate and state the facts ardently. Money and grants allocation for non-cricket sports can be made only if there is a willingness to create a plan for the Sports development. India is blessed with such a population that many private establishments are getting involving in development of sports. Yes, India is a land of more than one billion and not all of them will be wrong. But those few who create such ‘wrong perception’ come from the influential and political category and that is the worrying sign. Private firm can do only much unless there is the administration heads of sports work with alacrity.

 Will there be smart administrators who can look beyond and interpret rightly the Buddha’s saying of ‘Living in Present’? Coz, acknowledging and solving the present problems can only help the Sports Industry better. 

Perils of Indian Cricket Administration

Last week, Cricket made headlines (again) for illegal activities concerning spot-fixing. A two-time World Cup winner, a first-class cricketer and a club cricketer all playing for the same franchise Rajasthan Royals were accused, taken to custody, their contracts suspended, banned and the investigations are still on. Not so long ago, in 2000 this game discovered the term match-fixing being added to its glossary. Spot-fixing is the latest addition.

 

 Illegal by its widely accepted definition is “Prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules”. While the connotations and the usage are unparalleled in today’s world, illegal is also a situation where there is a degree of punishment when a personnel or a firm involved.

 A lot of noise is heard at the moment in India; with social media easily accessible to public, the news is viral and with each passing hour there are updates and more dirt being unearthed. What is the truth? I ask this question each time when such allegations threaten to disrupt a sport, let alone be cricket. Quel dommage!

 Individuals or a collection of individuals may be playing for the same team, but their personalities are different. Just as their skill sets are unique, their sociological background and their vision towards life are varied. This is what team sports are made up of – a bunch of idiosyncratic athletes coming together with a simple purpose and a common goal – to win. It is their profession and like any other profession, sport is no different. Win at all costs is the mantra; losing at all costs?

 Losing is a constant part of the game; if done deliberately you discredit the effort put in by your peers and opposition. Cricket like many other games evolved from being a recreational sport to the present day business establishment. There are contracts, employee agreements and commitments which is necessary to fulfill.

 The business over recreation in its modern avatar became very evident in cricket with the advent of T20 cricket and since the conception of Indian Premier League (IPL). Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) in partnership with International Management Group (IMG) drew the league structure for IPL in 2008.

 Currently, IPL is in its sixth edition and barring the first season; each season had its share of controversies. This is nothing new for the tournament that unites the best of international cricketers from around the world for a good part of ten weeks. The teams are owned by well-known business magnates and few of the famous Indian movie celebrities. State Associations of Cricket are involved in tandem with BCCI and team owners as they provide the playing facilities, while the sponsors who pump in money to these franchises also play an important role. Not to forget, amidst all this, there are local Indian cricketers and umpires who are given a platform of their lives to showcase their respective talents to the global audience.

 With deals in the tune of millions of dollars for TV rights, Mobile rights, League Sponsorship this is easily one of the top leagues in the world when it comes to money involved. So with a short introduction to IPL, the basic question remains unanswered or I might say skewed. What is the purpose of IPL - Is it to promote cricket? Money?  To showcase cricketer’s talents?  To remain in the limelight or is it a cocktail of all the above factors?

 BCCI’s objective is simple – To make money from cricket and to utilise that money to promote cricket across the country. What about other stake holders? Their involvement in IPL is simple too -Win matches, increase their presence in the social circles and add IPL as an extension to their well established businesses. While this is true for owners, a lot of companies utilise IPL to showcase their products through advertisements and sponsorship. IPL is not merely for cricket, it is entertainment, business, money and fame with cricket as its vital ingredient.

 With cricket as the vital ingredient, it is the onus on the governing body BCCI in the lead with ICC as a indirect partner to take the moral responsibility for the smooth running of the league. India as a political nation is divided by region, language and caste politics. Indian cricket has them all - BCCI is the only organisation that had and has representatives from all the major political parties across India consistently in its governing body. With such a powerful network, it is perhaps explained why this unity can fail and is deemed ineffective when it comes to tackling or checking illegal activities or resolving conflicts of interests. That is the flip side of being democratic in an organisation where the rules can be skewed and altered easily while none of it all is explained in lay man’s language.

 What can BCCI do? While the responsibility of integrity rests with the individual athletes, BCCI can consider this latest fiasco to lead by example and demonstrate its might to educate the upcoming cricketers, strengthen its laws, rewrite it such that there is no scope for misinterpretation and finally look beyond money and take care of Indian cricket that lays the golden eggs.

 BCCI with its increased reach, stronger and deeper than the Indian Olympic Committee can set examples to other athletes in matters related to match-fixing, spot-fixing, doping, mentoring and faking age in junior cricket. While many of the cricketers earn good money by playing cricket, the present generation needs monitoring and the future generations to come needs education on the ill-traps of sport. BCCI needs to control cricket from playing and administrative aspects such that there are clear, well defined laws and rules to tackle such aforementioned issues.

Will they? Time can only answer. 

Lost Track: Circuits of the Yore XI - Dallas Grand Prix

One of the rare sights I have ever seen in F1 is the sight of a driver pushing his car to the chequered flag. These days, such a situation is rare. From what I have seen in the video archives and read in several articles, pushing a car was a normal thing to do for many drivers in the past, even more so when they were close to the finishing line.

In this edition of Lost Track: Circuits of the Yore, I am looking back at the solitary race that took place at  a track where Nigel Mansell - after securing his first pole position, having driven a steady race fell unconscious due to exhaustion and dehydration near the start-finish line, while he attempted valiantly to race completion pushing his car.

Last year, United States hosted a Grand Prix in the state of Texas at Austin. It became an interesting race for many of the teams as drivers struggled with tyres because of relatively cooler conditions, as it took time for all the racers to warm up with new tyres. This is in contrast with the issues faced when the state of Texas first hosted a Formula One race. It was in the year 1984 at Fair Park, a 277-acre recreational and educational complex located in Dallas were hosts to a Grand Prix.

Dallas in a bid to demonstrate as ‘World class city’ hosted this race and the track was a street circuit of length just short of 4 km.  The circuit itself was not conducive for overtaking and the drivers had to rely on their sharp instincts to negotiate more than one sharp turn. With just two hairpin bends and short straights, this race was a challenge to the best of the drivers. Challenge is what champions thrive on, but this time they had an external challenge too – the hot weather.

The race was scheduled in the season where the summer was at its peak in Dallas. Commitments had been made and the commercialisation had just started in F1. Any new international venue was welcomed and at the same time attractive to the business of F1. And moreover, Bernie Eccelestone and FOCA were trying to find a home ground in North America.

There was no enthusiasm on the part of several teams to race under extreme heat than normal conditions which they were quite adapted to. Mind you, this was a street circuit and the heat did not help matters to the concrete laid on the public roads at Fair Park. After the Friday practice, there were noises to be heard complaining about the circuit, especially concerning the track being bubbly. Nelson Piquet, the then defending champion was most vocal – he wondered which among the three would break first; cars, the drivers or the track itself. In the end it turned out to be all the three at different times of the race.

Martin Brundle became the first of the casualties when he crashed his Tyrell into a barrier. He broke both his knees and spent rest of the race and season recuperating from that horrific accident. The battle for the championship was between the McLaren teammates – Nikki Lauda and Alain Prost, with Prost leading the championship. Under extreme hot conditions, the Lotus pair Nigel Mansell and Elio de Angelis secured 1-2 for the race. Ferrari was struggling but they did put up a good show as the Frenchman Rene Arnoux came fourth while the Renault powered car driven by Derek Warwick was to start from the third. The McLaren duo had to be content with five and seven on the grid sandwiched by Aryton Senna, who incidentally was in his rookie year.

With complaints about the heat becoming a threat to cancel this race, the organisers had agreed the race would begin at 11 am on Sunday and the practice was scheduled for 7 am. For few drivers this was way too early for scheduling a practice. Jacques Laffite, the French driver for Williams was in his pyjamas when he arrived at the circuit instead of overalls and helmet. Due to the damage made by the Can-Am racing the previous day, the practice was cancelled and instead the organisers were busy fixing up the circuit. The track was showing some degree of degradation and this called for fresh protests from the drivers led by Nikki Lauda and Alain Prost before the start. Who likes to lay on the line, the championships and more importantly the safety of the drivers?

With 80,000 disappointed fans at stake and the overall image of F1, there was no way the race would have been cancelled. Jimmy Carter, ex-US President was one among the elite celebrities who were invited for the race. Larry Hagman (Capt. Tony Nelson in I Dream of Jeannie and J.R. Ewing in Dallas) waved the green flag to start the ninth round of the 1984 season.

The retirements started from the first lap and as the race (which began minutes after the track was repaired) progressed there were many added to this list. With heat taking a toll on driver’s concentration, there were errors made which costed the race for few drivers. Nigel Mansell could not sustain his lead, made a mistake by hitting the wall and thereby lost his position to Keke Rosberg. Keke Rosberg who had started the race from 8^th on the grid was unstoppable just after half-way through the race. There were moments when Alain Prost looked good to win the race before he made an error and the lead and with it the race was once again for Rosberg’s to lose. After close to two hours of racing in extreme hot conditions, the Finn won the race, one lap short of the total laps. The drama wasn’t over – Nigel Mansell who had to settle for fifth position ran out of fuel on the last lap.  Mansell, out of his car started pushing the car to the finish line and in the process collapsed on the track out of exhaustion. He finished sixth out of eight drivers who managed to stay on the track till the end. 

                 

Incidentally, Rosberg’s pace was so exemplary coupled with race attrition, he won it by a margin of approximately 23 seconds of Rene Arnoux, who finished 2^nd in a Ferrari. The rest of the cars (six of them) were all behind Rosberg and Rene Arnoux by a lap or more. In a traditional Texan style, Rosberg wearing a Stetson hat looked relieved and visibly very fresh. It was later known to public that Rosberg had invested close to $2000 for a special designed water-cooled helmet, which did play a crucial role in keeping his head cool amidst chaos and heat during the race.

The Grand Prix in Dallas was a one-off event. With a narrow track lots of concrete falling apart, cars colliding with the protected fencing than ever seen in a previous F1 race and the heat (though this could have been worked out) were just too big reasons to be ignored and have teams visit the place next year. This race was replaced by the Australian Grand Prix in 1985 at the street circuit of Adelaide. 

Lost Track: Circuits of the Yore X - Montjuïc Spanish Grand Prix

Lella Lombardi, the only female to score points in F1

I recently read the news of the future of Women drivers in F1 and controversy surrounding it. Sir Stirling Moss was quite vocal about women being incapable to handle F1 mentally; though physically he said it didn’t matter. This didn’t go well with many and the F1 world was divided, with many voicing their opinions and few openly disagreeing (mainly Susie Wolff, the Williams test driver) with Moss. According to me - Women are ready to race for F1 teams; it is just a matter of teams having them. Only time will tell as to when.

It isn’t like there were no women F1 drivers before. There were many who test drove but very few women were part of the F1 business. Till date, there have been only five women racers (when compared to thousands of male drivers) to have been part of the Grand Prix circus; the last female took part in a race thirty three years ago. Out of these five drivers, only one managed to score a point, well almost a point (0.5 points to be precise). So clearly, statistics are not the medium through which you can bias and deny opportunity to female drivers. F1 in its current state is a lot safer and hence it eliminates the fear of life or one can say, fear of flying if thing do go awry in a F1 car.

Lella Lombardi (one of the five female drivers) competed in 17 races and her moment of glory in F1 came amidst the chaos and death of few spectators in a race which was stopped midway. The year was 1975 and all this happened at the hilly circuit of Montjuïc, located in Barcelona. It hosted Spanish Grand Prix briefly in late 60’s and early 70’s before facing the wrath from the F1 drivers. In this edition of Lost Track: Circuits of the Yore, I will be featuring the enigmatic street circuit at Montjuïc.

Spanish Grand Prix first became part of the F1 calendar in the year 1951, when Pedralbes hosted the race. It hosted one more time in 1954 and was cancelled the next year as a consequence of the disaster that took place at 24 hours of LeMans disaster in 1955. With authorities calling for regulations governing spectator safety, the scheduled Spanish Grand Prix (like many others) was cancelled and the pedestrian-lined street track at Pedralbes was then never used again for motor racing.

It took some effort on the part of ‘Real Automóvil Club de España’ (RACE) known as Royal Automobile Club of Spain in English to bid for the races in Spain. There were two front runners, one from Madrid (Jarama) and Barcelona (Montjuïc) respectively. After hosting a number of F2 and F3 races in the 1960’s, Spain was ready for F1 action. In 1967, a non-championship race took place at Jarama, which is situated north of Madrid. The race was won by Jim Clark and the F1 fraternity was impressed and came to an agreement to have the Spanish Grand Prix regularly. The two venues - Jarama and Montjuïc were in concord to host the Spanish Grand Prix alternatively. Jarama would host the Spanish Grand Prix in even-numbered years and Montjuïc in the odd-numbered years. 

                                        

Montjuïc, also known as the ‘Jew Mountain’ in Catalan hosted its first F1 championship race in 1969. Located in the hills, the drivers had to drive their machines along the slopes facing the city. It was challenging, it was tricky, but was exciting too. It was the second race of the calendar and the Ford-powered engines of Matra driven by (Sir) Jackie Stewart took the top step of the podium. Bruce McLaren in his McLaren-Ford came second. The race marked the end of the high-wing era. Also, this was the first race where the winner finished the race two laps ahead of the runner-up. This feat was repeated just once since then (Australia GP, 1995).

 The Spanish Grand Prix returned to Montjuïc in 1971, a race which saw the introduction of slick tyres for the first time in F1 by Firestone, who had considerable experience in US Open wheel racing series. Jackie Stewart was once again unstoppable; won the race starting from fourth.

In 1973, Jackie Stewart could not complete the hatrick of victories at Montjuïc. He retired early in the race due to brake problems. Emerson Fittipaldi, the reigning World Champion at that time won the race in his Lotus-Ford.

Two years later, the race at Montjuïc came to be known as one of the horrific and controversial races in the annals of F1 was the last this circuit hosted the Spanish Grand Prix. This is how the drama unfolded.

Before the race started, many drivers expressed their displeasure over the barriers and how recklessly it was bolted. The situation got so heated up that, many of the drivers went on strike and refused to get their cars out for practice sessions, which forced the track workers to spend overtime in fixing the barriers. The strike didn’t cool down; it required a threat by the race organisers which prompted the drivers to call off the strike. The threat was simple – If the race were to be cancelled, all the cars parked in the circuit would have been seized as compensation.

The race finally did take place; few drivers took part hesitantly while one refused to race. Emerson Fittipaldi, then the youngest double World Champion protested the race and did not start this race. There was a big accident and few of the cars at the front were taken out; Wilson Fittipaldi and Arthuro Merzario withdrew from the race after lap one. By the end of three laps, eight out of 26 cars were out of the race. By the end of 25 laps, the number swelled to 18. On lap 25, the tragedy struck as explained by a report – “The rear wing on Rolf Stommelen's Hill-Ford broke, sending him into the barrier. He bounced off it and back into the road, hitting the barrier across the way, and flying over it.”  

While trying to avoid Stommelen as he crossed the track, the Brazilian driver Carlos Pace crashed. Five spectators were killed by Stommelen's flying car with the driver suffering a broken leg, a broken wrist and two cracked ribs. The race continued for four more laps before it was stopped. Jochen Mass won the race and since, only 29 laps out of scheduled 75 were complete, points were reduced to half. The Italian, Lella Lombardi who finished sixth became the first and till date the only female to score points in F1.

 After the tragedy of 1975, F1 never returned to Montjuïc and was deserted completely. Jarama became the sole custodian of the Spanish Grand Prix before the baton was passed on to Jerez, Circuit de Catalunya and Valencia.

With F1 being ruled out, Montjuïc was used extensively to build an Olympic park for the 1992 Summer Olympics. Few parts of the race circuit were included in the Olympic Park plan.

Montjuïc was in the headlines again in October 2007 when the circuit was used for the Martini Legends, to honour the 75th anniversary of the circuit.

With Circuit de Catalunya and the recently built street circuit at Valencia being in the calendar (agreed to host Spanish Grand Prix alternatively), it is unlikely Montjuïc will feature in the F1 calendar in the near future. It hosted the Spanish Grand Prix four times and as they say; you are only as good as your last race. 

Lost Track: Circuits of the Yore IX - Jacarepaguá Brazilian Grand Prix

Picturesque view of the mountains from the track

Today on March 21^st fifty-three years ago, in a small neighbouring city to Sao Paulo Ayrton da Silva was born. At a much later stage before he started racing in F1 he had decided to change his surname to that of his mother’s. Senna fitted well as he started winning the British and Formula Ford championship’s in the early 80’s and thus knocking doors of the many constructor teams in F1.

He started his F1 career in the season of 1984, the year I was born. And before I could understand what F1 meant, he was long gone. I feel at times, I did not get the privilege of watching him race live on TV and all I got was to read stories about his driving and the way he went about racing.  In this edition of Lost Track: Circuits of the Yore, I will write about the circuit where Senna made his F1 debut with Toleman.

It all began in the year 1978 for this circuit; built around a city with backdrop of scenic mountains of Rio de Janeiro. It was a visual treat. The distance was just over 5 km; the circuit was a permanent racing facility and was the first from outside Sao Paulo. Brazilian Grand Prix was included in the F1 calendar only in 1973 (Interlagos), though the championships had begun in 1950. It was won by the local Sao Paulo resident Emerson Fittipaldi. It is interesting to note that, Brazilian drivers in the 1970’s were mainly from Sao Paulo. But the Sao Paulo was not going to be the only circuit in Brazil, as there was another circuit (modified and re-built) in Rio which was ready to host the event. The growing interests in the exotic place of Rio resulted in it getting a foot into Formula One. 

Jacarepaguá (named after the neighbourhood in which it is located) was ready to welcome the F1 world and it hosted its first Grand Prix in 1978. It was a significant one for Michelin Tyre Company as they registered their first victory with Carlos Reutmann winning the race. Emerson Fittipaldi came second and thereby scoring the first podium finish for Fittipaldi-Ford car.

 

After an eventful inaugural race, the event moved to Sao Paulo the following season. But it didn't last long. Safety issues with the track with complaints like bumpy track surface, deep ditches, inadequate barriers and improper embankments surfaced in 1980. In fact, prior to the race several drivers protested for the aforementioned reasons. But in F1, the show must go on and so it did, but Interlagos faced a lot of embarrassment. In addition to the concerns, with F1 becoming a glamour sport the slums of Sao Paulo was at odds for Formula One's new found international image.

Luckily for Brazil, Jacarepaguá was an alternative which was immediately available and from 1981, the race shifted to Rio. 

PASSING THE BATON:

Emerson Fittipaldi, twice F1 World Champion hailed from Sao Paulo. With his increased business interests, the country needed a new hero, not just in Sao Paulo. Though, there were many talented drivers, none could go on to win championships (Fittipaldi had won in 1972 and 1974). That was all to change at the beginning of the next decade. Nelson Piquet started out his sports career in tennis before switching to karts after getting bored with the former. He hailed from Rio and made his way to the top in F1 after advice from Fittipaldi to race in Europe. After creating quite an impression, he made his debut in the year 1978 with Brabham. By the time the Brazilian GP had shifted its attention towards Rio, the crowd had a local who by merit had all the signs of a future world champion.

LONG RUN FOR JACAREPAGUA’:

In 1981, the circuit had a carnival atmosphere and the expectations of the local crowd went high as their city boy Nelson had taken the pole position. The race track was wet at the start and Nelson Piquet started the race with dry slicks. It didn’t help him as he was easily overpowered by both the Williams drivers Reutmann and Alan Jones. Carlos Reutmann went on to win the race despite the clear instructions to finish behind the 1980 World Champion, his team mate Alan Jones which made Jones furious and later refused to come on the podium to take his 2^nd place. Nelson Piquet could not finish in points, but he did win the World Championship in his Brabham-Ford, the first of his three and Brazil had a new hero and this time it was not from Sao Paulo.

Nelson Piquet and the eventual world champion Keke Rosberg finished 1^st and 2^nd respectively in the 1982 edition. But both the places were disqualified due to the car being underweight promoting Alain Prost as the winner. This resulted in FOCA teams boycotting the SanMarino GP.

The local boy eventually tasted the victory champagne at his home circuit the following year while Keke Rosberg (the 1982 World Champion) was disqualified from his 2^nd position for the second year running. Nelson Piquet took his second World Championship and this time with Brabham-BMW.

While the nation was celebrating their new found hero in Piquet, another kid (so to speak) was finding his feet in F1. He was none other than Senna. Debuting for Toleman, the Brazilian didn’t have a good time, but did show early signs about being a champion material. Alain Prost, the French driver nicknamed ‘Professor’ took his second title at the Brazilian GP. He repeated this feat by driving his McLaren-TAG powered engine to the top step in 1985 too.

After having two unsuccessful seasons at Brabham (1984 and 1985), Nelson Piquet shifted to Williams powered by the reliable Honda engine. The 1986 race in Jacarepaguá was the first to be held after the disastrous car accident to Sir Frank Williams in France. Nelson Piquet went on to win the 1986 Grand Prix, but was unable to win the overall title, which went to Alain Prost for the second time.

Alain Prost by this time was simply unstoppable. His rivalry with Nelson Piquet was intense but never so controversial. Prost went on to win his 4^th Brazilian GP in 1987 but the McLaren driver was beaten to title by Nelson Piquet. Nelson won his 3^rd World Championship title and joined the ranks of Fangio, Brabham, Jackie Stewart and Niki Lauda as the only drivers to win three or more World Championship titles.

ANOTHER PASS IN THE BATON:

By the time the season started in 1988, a lot of changes had taken place; Piquet was no more with Williams and he had joined Lotus. Senna joined Prost at McLaren and thus began an epic rivalry for the next 2 years. In the meantime, there was a change made to the circuit as well. It was renamed as ‘Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet’, a tribute to the local hero and for being the only Brazilian triple World champion. In his first race since it was renamed after him, Piquet finished driving a Lotus-Honda, finishing behind the McLaren-Honda of Alain Prost (won his 5^th Brazilian GP title), and the Ferrari of Gerhard Berger. By the end of the season, Piquet’s career had taken a nose-dive and he had to be content with the fact that Senna was the new face of Brazilian motorsports as he won his first World Championship title.

The last race at Jacarepaguá paralled with the career of Nelson Piquet, the attention was now towards Sao Paulo and its new hero. In 1989, Senna took the pole and Mansell became the first man since Mario Andretti in 1971 to win on his Formula One debut for Ferrari, a feat that was not matched until Kimi Raikkonen won for Ferrari at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix.  Nelson Piquet who was slowly losing his aura finished in ninth.

The baton was not just in the drivers but it again coincided with change in location. With Senna’s growing popularity and more importantly Interlagos, newly shortened and safe circuit provided a tempting offer and finally the FIA awarded the Brazilian GP to Interlagos, Sao Paulo in 1990. FIA and F1 have not looked back and till date the Brazilian Grand Prix is hosted at Interlagos.

CURRENT STATE:

In total, it hosted 10 races in a period of 12 seasons. And there will not be any more additions to this tally as there won’t be any further F1 race hosted at Jacarepaguá. The track and motorsport facilities were finally demolished last November and will be re-built as training facilities venue for the Rio Summer Olympics in 2016.

SACHIN AND THOSE WONDER YEARS

Sachin Tendulkar will no longer be donning the Blue Team India shirt bearing the number 10. He no longer will be opening the innings and more so, he no longer be scheming the bowlers with his continuous onslaught of boundaries and clever play. I know he will be part of Test cricket, but his retirement from ODI’s gives me a feeling of being a patient who is in his/her last stages of life. The end is not too far.

  

I am saying this because he has been a constant in my life ever since I can go back in my life. Travelogue from the early 90’s till now, my journey of cricket has been defined by Tendulkar and I can say that cricket viewing will not be the same. I know no player is bigger than the game, but to me I hooked on to cricket because of Sachin Tendulkar.

I would say I am lucky; I was at the right age when I started watching cricket; in only his second year into cricket I was barely six years of age and the image of his curled hair covered with his white helmet coming on to bat is fresh on my mind. It was in New Zealand where he scored his first run in ODI’s. Then the big series was the Australian tour where I remember his wicket taking abilities to tie the match at Perth against the West Indies along his bravado facing the fast bowlers scoring some decent knocks. Then the World Cup, waking up early to watch the matches. Remember the knocks at Sydney, Hamilton or Dunedin?

With school being very close to my place, I always used to rush back home to catch the glimpse of the match and if I did miss the matches, I use to catch them on highlights or watch the news (both Hindi and English) to just see few shots of the match. I must say, watching him play rubbed me into playing cricket as well. I was not that great a cricketer, but was a good enough player and that was entirely inspired by Sachin Tendulkar. I faced my friends who wore Fair and Lovely on their nose and came fast at me; I was determined to hit them apart. This was the effect of watching a lot of Indian cricket played in Australia and South Africa.

By this time, Sachin was on my walls courtesy the Boost posters. I never liked Boost, preferred Bournvita over it for taste; I used to buy them just to have Sachin’s poster. I remember the time when collecting post cards of Sachin was a past time to me; be it on a Sunny bike or the Big Fun bubble gum cards or sometime later those Sahara Cup and 1996 World Cup cards. I used to force my parents to subscribe to Sportstar magazine because I wanted to read and look at those pictures on cricket. 

Coming back from school was almost done in a hurry; rather to watch the last few minutes of cricket or to go out play cricket. Even the lunch break was spent in 5 minutes of eating and 35 minutes of watching cricket either at home or at a nearby friend’s place. Cricket was wired in me and I can’t but stop think for a moment that there was life beyond cricket. All this before I was even 9 years of age and then this happened.

My dad used to play cricket, corporate cricket in the 80’s and early 90’s. He loved cricket so much that he once hugged Vivian Richards at Chinnaswamy stadium. I was not born that time, but that story is a legend in our family. Richards was my dad’s hero and I can understand how ecstatic he must have felt meeting his hero. In 1993, when Indian team was down at Bangalore playing a double-wicket tournament, I went in with my sister to watch it. My dad took us to the pavilion and I was with my boyish exuberance met one cricketer after the other, getting their autographs. And then saw my hero, my idol standing about 100m from me. I could see him, his curled hair and his strapped left hand. He wasn’t taking part in the tournament but that was not what was on my mind. I took my little sister and ran towards him like how Usain Bolt would have done for a 100m race. Just about 80m, a security guard stopped my run with his lathi stick and I was scared. I looked back and saw few kids of my age too wanting to get an autograph of Sachin. Just when we thought it wouldn’t happen, I heard a voice “Un logon ko bula” (Call those guys in). Lathi lifted and we all rushed to him. I cherish the autograph as it was signed from his wrong hand and shook hands with him.

But that happened nearly 20 years ago but still remains a fond memory; so does his 463 ODI appearances. I might have not seen all his 18,426 runs scored from his bat, but have followed religiously everyone of it through some means. His 49 centuries and 96 half-centuries is a testament to his sheer hunger; his cameo of breezing 30’s and 40’s were a thrill and brought a lot of adrenaline. Be it those cracking square cuts, blasting cover drives, punch of the back foot, those breath taking straight drives, his mighty slog sweeps, feather touch flicks and glances; the delicate paddle sweeps, lap shots with occasional hits over the slips, third man and coming down the track to a spinner. He has done it all in every part of the World where cricket is played.

I was up on that Sunday early morning when I watched Tendulkar open the batting for the first time; was there at a aunt’s place on Ganapati festival to watch him score his maiden ODI hundred; was hitting the wall in frustration when he was stumped for the first time in ODI cricket; watched his first match as a captain and score a hundred; lifting Titan Cup as a captain; his blistering cameo in Durban; hundreds against Pakistan in Independence Cup 98; his first 5-wicket haul; Sand storming innings at Sharjah; Score a record breaking partnership with Ganguly in Srilanka; his record breaking 18^th century; vengeance against Olonga at Sharjah; scoring an emotional hundred at Bristol; his 186 at Hyderabad; last of his captaincy; his innocence during the match-fixing incidents; his verbal duel with Mc Grath in Nairobi; his 10,000^th run at Nehru stadium, Indore; his foot injury against West Indies; his first ODI hundred in South Africa against the Proteas; opening the innings with Sehwag; hundred at Durham;  his breathtaking knocks at the World Cup 2003; finals against Australia; his solo effort at Rawalpindi; the catch off Inzamam; the tennis elbow injury; come back innings against Srilanka; his demotion to number 4; World Cup 2007 disappointment; his first hundred in Australia; winning the tri-series in Australia; his epic in New Zealand; best innings for a losing cause against Australia; World Cup hundreds; seeing me held afloat by his teammates and give a lap of honour at his home crowd and watching him hold the trophy, a dream come true.

The above were just few glimpses over a period of time, but I am sure with time and my gifted memory many more such incidents of his will come to my mind. His cricketing feats have been an inspiration to my life and will continue so in bridging my nascent days with my growing age. He is the identity through which I recall my childhood days and all those moments that are so dear to my life. I look at all my scrap books where I collected thousands of his pictures and wonder a quote from The Wonder Years.

"You start out life with a clean slate. Then you begin to make your mark. You face decisions, make choices. You keep moving forward. But sooner or later there comes a time where you look back over where you have been...and wonder who you really are."

The past 24 hours was such a time for me where I went back in time; rediscovered who I am, my connection with cricket and Sachin and relived those wonder years. 

SACHIN TENDULKAR...... MY SUPERMAN

While the debate is on all across the country, my mind goes back to a scene from the 2006 movie ‘Superman Returns’. Lois Lane had just won a Pulitzer Prize for her article - ‘Why World doesn’t need Superman’; it is strange that our own cricket’s superman finds a similar situation from the Lois Lane type of admirers. Though, none can come close to being Lois Lane and with that in mind, the personal vent is justified. 

 I thought hard and have been thinking occasionally since the first time I read an article that stated “Endulkar” (after 3^rd Test at Karachi, 2006) regarding people’s opinion on him. I was shocked to have read such a headline being made and wondered who would have had the temerity to make such a statement. After all, the author was no Lois Lane to make such statements to our Superman. But statements were made and that were followed up by a host of personalities in the cricketing world giving their two cents as to why Sachin must retire. Technical reasons, personal reasons and every possible reason that one can think of were to be seen or read across the media. He was 33 years and people just didn’t want to see Superman without his powers. They were forcing him to take up the role of ‘Clark Kent’ so that another Superman can flourish. People forgot that, there were places up for grabs for other Superhero spots; no - the focus was and is entirely on Superman.

Circa 2007-2011 - Just like in Superman returns just when people were getting used to the fact that Superman’s powers had waned and thought about moving on without him, a series of performances reinstated the faith and made people believe in him all over again – Cricketing world indeed requires a Superman. Indian cricket required Sachin Tendulkar and if one person who deserves the World Cup, it had to be him was what I heard. And so the wishes came true in front of his home crowd (Mumbai) comparable to Metropolis; the very same venue which had booed him (3^rd Test against England in Mumbai, 2006) as though he was a traitor or some sort of criminal. If he didn’t deserve any cheers or applause, it is understandable; but certainly not this sort of disrespect. But such were the standards of Superman that even his own people could not fathom the situation and deserted him in open air visible to all the viewers around the globe. No complaints, he went on.

After having experienced a roller-coaster ride in the last six years, our superman is at that juncture wherein he is forced to take a call. People have moved on with times, we do not have patience anymore and we think everything and every person must be treated in the same way and yet in our professional and personal lives we choose to make clear distinctions. Let’s remove the personal lives and talk only about the professional lives. We talk about him because people would listen or we truly mean by what we say about Tendulkar? Is it true people want to see more of Clark Kent as they are bored of Superman’s adventures?

Quentin Tarantino once quoted – “Superman stands alone. Superman did not become Superman, Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he is Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red S is the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears, the glasses the business suit, that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent? He's weak, unsure of himself... he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race, sort of like Beatrix Kiddo and Mrs. Tommy Plumpton.” 

Tendulkar was born to bat, circumstances if one could create helped him realise his true potential, and those circumstances and support has been well documented through several interviews from the man himself. I remember once attending an interview of his, live in Mumbai (post World Cup) where he talked about his fears. I vividly recall the words; the situation he was in when he was suffering with tennis elbow. He was speaking about his life - just as Clark Kent would have done. He was unsure and how weak he felt, how he hoped he didn’t end his career through an injury. After having overcome all that, he finds himself in a situation where in he can run, he can hide, but he cannot escape the wrath. The only way out for Clark Kent was to become Superman all over again. And that he did, till about recently.

Personally I like Tendulkar’s cricketing story to be a fairy tale; no not a fairy tale but a super-hero story from which I and many others can get inspired from. Since birth apart from my family, he has been the only constant in my life. Maybe he didn’t inspire me to become a very good cricketer and make a career in cricket (though I wasn’t that bad a cricketer); but he did inspire me to have a dream, work hard to get them and continuously work on it.

And yes, we need heroes to sustain a Sport. Take any sport and ask any person across the world; name a sport you shall hear a hero, or an inspirational athlete and not the rules and regulations. It happened to Michael Jordan, Michael Schumacher and now to Sachin Tendulkar. Jordan’s legacy made a lot of people take up basketball, Michael Schumacher inspired a lot of Germans and others to take up F1 and you can see that with the current crop of F1 drivers (namely fellow German Vettel). The same is true with Sachin, his contribution isn’t just about the numbers; it goes well beyond them. The very team that won the World Cup in 2011 have openly stated Sachin to be their inspiration to take up the sport. Yes, he cannot go on like this forever – we want to embrace the Greek philosophy of living; to make way for the next generation. But who are the worthy contenders?

No matter what accomplishments he would have made, the once well-wishers or his critics will remind him of this – “We ordinary people might lack your great talent or extraordinary cricketing skills, Mr. Sachin, but never underestimate the power of the human mind. We carry the most dangerous weapon on Earth inside these thick skulls of ours.” 

People have indeed unleashed this most dangerous weapon they possess. We in India never praise a team as a whole, only individuals; so guess it is understood on the flip side we criticise an individual and not the team. He is beginning to appear more like Clark Kent; this time sadly it is on the cricket ground.

Irrespective of what happens in the coming days, I believe and I hope to see Superman leaving the cricket ground and not Clark Kent. If fate were to not be like that, all I would like to say this to you Sachin – “You will always be remembered by me as a Superman”. ....... Period