New Delhi: It was the official book launch ceremony of Sachin Tendulkar's autobiography “Playing It My Way” on Wednesday, when Anjali Tendulkar in a kind of jolly mood described her short yet sweet love story with the master blaster.
With a big smile on her face, Anjali spoke about how she met Sachin till they got married. She bought out those facts which might not have known by anybody before that.
When Sachin was 17, Anjali said that she didn't knew him at that point of time. She didn't even knew that Sachin was that “Wonder Boy” of Indian cricket who became the youngest Indian to score a century at the age of 16 till her friend told her about him. She had absolutely no interest in cricket and didn't even care to know who Sachin was.
It was at Mumbai Airport 23 years back, when Anjali saw Sachin for the first time. Anjali at that time was present at the airport to receive her mother. But after seeing Sachin, she found him so cute that she forgot about her mother and just ran down and chased him screaming “Sachin…..Sachin!”
Sachin felt embarrassed in front of his brother Ajit Tendulkar when he saw a girl was running after him screaming his name.
During those days, Anjali was studying medicines in her final year. She asked one of her friend who was also a cricketer to bring Sachin's telephone number for him.
When she got the number, she called him up and introduced herself to Sachin. She made him remember that she met him at the airport. Anjali asked him that what she was wearing when he saw her to which Sachin replied correctly that she was wearing an orange t-shirt. Anjali was then satisfied that Sachin actually remembered him. Sachin was seen smiling at that point of time and even it seems that he was feeling shy on the stage.
Anjali might have been chasing a 15 year old Sachin if she would have agreed to her father when he called her to meet Sachin when he scored a century.
The first time Sachin wanted Anjali to come to his house, he was a little hesitant. He came up with this plan that he will tell people at his home that she was a journalist. When she met him in 1990, there were no mobile phones so she had to cross her college campus to a telephone booth to call him. I then decided to write letters to him when he was in Sydney to save on telephone bills.
The interesting was that when Sachin was 21, he wanted Anjali to go to his parents and talk about for their relation. Sachin reacted to this by saying, “Talking to my parents about Anjali and us getting engaged was much tougher that facing the fastest bowlers.”
Watch the video of Anjali Tendulkar telling her story with Sachin
