Matser blaster Sachin Tendulkar turned poet sounds amazing to everyone at first instance but this surprise endeavour came to reality, when Tendulkar recited the poem 'Prajakta' penned down by his late father Ramesh Tendulkar to pay rich tributes in his memory at the Shivaji Park here on Tuesday. He did it on the occasion of a poetry recitation programme `Maharashtra Dharma', organised by the student’s wing of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena led by Raj Thackeray. Sachin’s father was a well-known critic and a Marathi poet. He was a professor at Mumbai’s Kirti College. Incidentally Sachin started his great cricketing career from this Shivaji Park itself and had lots of joyful memories from here but now he added one more memorable chapter of his life from this place. It was a totally nostalgic and emotional moment for Sachin when he recited the poem of his father, whom he admire most for the values inculcated by him in the little master and his family. Reciting Prajakta reminded him of the moment, when he scored the century during the World Cup series in England against Kenya after joining the team. Sachin had been called back from the series to Mumbai hearing the news of his father's death. After completing his century he raised his bat and looked upwards in search of his father. “I looked up and found my father watching me," an emotional Sachin said. He also dedicated that century to his father. Sachin said when invited to this event, he agreed but later on realised that it would be a very difficult task. "I started reading various poetry books and found it very difficult to recite even a couplet in front of my wife Anjali. I sent SMS to Raj Thackeray, requesting him relieve me from this responsibility. But the information about the event had already been made public, so I made up my mind to read out a poem," he said. On this occasion Sachin also re-released `Savitri', the first book written by historian Babasaheb Purandare's in 1950. Tendulkar was also there to promote Marathi literature and after the inauguration of the occasion, eminent Bollywood personalities of Marathi origin also pitched in reciting works of their favourite Marathi poet. Source: Article, Image: flickr.com
