My “Lords” Experience in 2001

It was April 2001, I was in London for my (first) onsite assignment. On one of the weekends, we decided to visit the Lords Stadium, which was near my apartment. So we booked a “Lords Tour” starting at 11:50AM. Well, I remember the time so well because while booking the ticket, the ticket officer said “Come at ten to twelve” … I said what? Ten or Twelve?  He said, “No. No. Ten to Twelve”! I was still confused. Then I saw the time on the ticket and I said oh! Ok ok... haha, well, I accept that that was my first time I realized 11:50 means “10 to 12”. Now even after 10 years, I laugh to myself when I recall this incident, but its ok. My schooling was done in a typical Marathi medium school. That too a Municipality School - “Vidya Niketan, Pune Mahanagarpalika Shala No 2”. Thus we were never taught like this! I am sure even my teacher won’t know what “ten to twelve” means!  :-)

Anyway, I guess there were 4-5 Indians in my group. The tour was for about 1 hour or so. So we booked the ticket in the morning, and we reached there at “ten to twelve”.

Tour guide (of course a typically British man in his 60s) started explaining about the stadium. He showed us all the places, like the changing rooms and where the Queen sits (I guess in the olden days, ladies were not allowed into Lords, except the Queen). Then he showed the place where Kapil Dev had lifted the World Cup trophy. (The tour guide didn’t say that, but I realized it immediately). And as a typical tourist, I took my photo where Kapil had lifted his trophy then … and where now “Ganguly had disrespected Lords protocol” by removing his shirt.

After that, the guide showed us the then newly built “Media Centre” in the stadium. View of the stadium from that Media Center was really amazing except for one thing, it was soundproof! I said to myself, what is this, you are watching the match so closely but you cannot “feel” the match. For me, and I guess for everyone who loves cricket, the sound of thousands of people in the stadium makes the game even more exciting!

Anyway, after seeing all those spots in the Stadium, he took us to the small museum inside the Stadium. It was dedicated to the World’s top cricketers. He was explaining to us everyone’s history.  He ended by showing us Brian Lara’s big portrait and he told us about Lara’s contribution to cricket. I thought that after some time, I would get to see / hear about Sachin. But then he ended with a, “That’s it. Those are the World’s best cricketers!”  I immediately asked him as an innocent Indian cricket lover, “Where is Sachin Tendulkar’s portrait?” He looked at me and didn’t say anything. After a short pause, the tour continued. Then after some time, the tour finished and everyone thanked him and we were about to leave the Stadium.

Then, the guide suddenly called me and said something to me. I still remember those words, and especially his expressions. He said, “So you want Sachin Tendulkar to be featured in this museum?” I asked, “Why not. He is India’s best cricket player!” Then, again there was a big pause after which he asked me “So where are you from?” I thought if I said Pune, he might not understand. Instead I replied that I am from Mumbai. !” I still remember his expression and the anger on his face when he immediately said, “Then go to Mumbai and build a Museum for Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai!!” Well I was hardly 23-24 at that time, and he must be 60-65+ so I didn’t say anything, and left. But I was shocked and hurt. And I kept asking myself, why did he say that?

I didn’t tell this to anyone at that time. But I felt very bad. Maybe Sachin was not as famous then. But that didn’t mean that he could say that to me. I could feel the anger inside him for Indians.

Now after almost 10 years, I regret only one thing about that incident. I did not ask the tour guide for his name otherwise today, I would have found him (if he was still alive) and asked him that same question again. And I am very sure; he would have agreed that Sachin has proven him wrong.

(Who knows today Sachin himself may not want to be featured in Lords but Lords will want to feature Sachin there!)