Living on the edge and lovin' it!

My most exciting World Cup moments? Well, like a billion others, they revolve around a man with explosive talent called Sachin Tendulkar.

Over the past few weeks, there have been many, many times when I’ve fervently prayed for an extra pair of eyes: one to watch Sachin go after the bowlers, and the other to capture for posterity the ecstasy of his fervent fans, who unfailingly wear their heart on their sleeve when he walks into the middle.

Weeks before my first World Cup assignment, I was so high strung, I could barely eat, breathe or sleep. Normal life surged into a state of suspended animation. So, when I actually stood next to Sachin (by accident, not design) at the ITC Royal Gardenia in Bangalore, it was a true Kodak moment for me. Pity I couldn’t freeze the moment and frame it forever because the camera was tucked firmly under my arm that was actually cracking and creaking at the joints from the pressure of coming in such close contact with the Master!

From then onwards, the tournament has given me plenty such freeze-worthy moments, which I chased with unbridled glee.

At Nagpur’s VCA Stadium, when India played South Africa, I was smitten not by the undeniably beautiful girls waving tirelessly at the cameras, but by a bunch of grandmothers — five feisty women in their seventies. With painted faces and loud cheers, they brought the roar right back into the battle!

On the way to Motera’s Sardar Patel Stadium, the town’s spirit of enterprise was there for all to see and celebrate. My autorickshaw driver, like all of his ilk that day, was happy to ferry me across the 5-km distance from hotel to stadium for “Only Rs 200!”

“Abhi hamara karcha badega, saab. Ab bache log ko khilono ke badle bat aur ball jo lena padega,” he grinned. He lectured me on how mavericks may reign, but it’s a certain middle class boy who always tops most popularity charts. “I wish my son grows up to be like Yusuf Pathan — hard working, sincere and humble,” he said, pocketing my Rs 200!

At Delhi’s Feroze Shah Kotla, most newsmen’s idea of Dante’s Hell, on a scorching morning spent battling past  surly security guards, relief came in the form of a bevy of girls, who rooted for India long and loud that by end of day, not one of them could whisper, forget speak!

At Chinnaswamy Stadium in namma Bengaluru, my pictures are tinged with a warm glow. Classy stadium, superbly efficient organisers and a fabulously responsive crowd made it an outing to remember.

My most precious takeaway from these adrenalin-driven weeks? Multitasking.

My reward? Candid moments that revealed not just those cool tattoos on the rippling biceps of Kohli and Clarke, but the camaraderie between players and teams. This, no doubt, made for great pictures. It also reaffiirmed my faith that sport is the best — and perhaps the only — unifier ever.