When it was easier to meet your IDOLS : A true story

Idols and sunny days – the only two cricket autobiographies that I’ve read and both of them are written by noneotherthan the master himself, Mr.Sunil Gavaskar. To my delight, both the books are signed by Gavaskar. No, it wasn’t me who got them signed, I wasn’t even born back then, it was my father who got both the books signed. He was and still is a great admirer of Gavaskar. He still refers to both the meets as “a dream come true”. My father had the golden opportunity to meet Gavaskar not once but twice, both the times at his book launch. 

When my father tells me about the experience, I have the greatest delight listening to him. The experience of meeting your idol one-on-one ought to be great. It has to be said that back in those days, it was much easier to meet your favorite cricketers, for the sole reason that they had much more time for their fans, cricket was not as busy as now, cricketers had the liberty to write books like Mr.Gavaskar did and then their fans could easily catch them at their book launch and take their autograph.

I must add here, when my father met Gavaskar for the first time, he was just 12 years old. My father waited in a long queue for about an hour, before he got the dream chance of taking his idol’s autograph. Gavaskar asked my father “what should I write?” Back then, my father really didn’t know what to say and at the top of his mind, he thought of saying “Gavaskar greets Manoj.” Gavaskar replied, “what about Manoj greets Gavaskar?” My father smiled and so did Mr.Gavaskar and then he proceeded with signing the book. Now, meeting your idols is one thing but talking to them is another and my father got that golden opportunity, it’s a day he cherishes even today and so do I – I’m delighted that my father met his idol.

It’s no rocket-science to realize the fact that nowadays it’s very rare that one gets to meet cricketers one on one. We certainly cannot blame cricketers for that. Now, when they do release a book, they arrange a media gathering and release their book, which certainly is the “mantra” these days but along all this, an average cricket fan certainly misses out on meeting his favorite cricketer, buying his book and taking his autograph.

Even to this date, when my father looks at the book “idols” and “sunny days”, the happiness and the grim on his face is one that makes everyone around him delighted, he still cherishes the fact that he met Mr.Gavaskar. This was the tale of an average fan meeting his favorite cricketer and having that memory stored in his mind forever. Cricket is progressing at a rapid speed, the meanings of fame and popularity is changing and thus the fact remains that the chance of meeting your favorite cricketers nowadays is pretty less as compared to the 70’s 80’s or even 90’s. One just has to accept that but still, people like my father who did get to meet their favorite cricketers do have a great story to cherish forever.