Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, among the richest sportsmen in the country, today recalled a time in his life when he did not have money to hire a cab for a ride home from the railway station on his return from Pune after an under-15 cricket game.
“I was only 12 years old and was selected to play for the Mumbai under-15 team. I was excited, carried some money and we went to Poona (Pune) to play three matches and it started raining there,” Tendulkar said at a function in Mumbai.
“When I got my turn, I was out on 4, run-out. I was only 12 and could barely run at a decent pace. I was disappointed and came back to the dressing room crying and after that I did not get another chance to bat,” he said.
“Because it had rained, we had nothing to do the whole day, except to go out, watch a movie and eat. Without knowing how to spend my money and how to equally pace myself and save money, I finished everything and when I came back to Mumbai by train there was not a penny in my pocket. “I was carrying two big bags, we got off at Dadar station and I had to walk to Shivaji Park because I had no money,” Tendulkar recalled, ruing that it was the pre-cell phone era.
“Can you imagine, if I had a phone in my hand, one SMS and my father or my mother would have transferred the amount to my phone and may be I would have travelled by cab,” said Tendulkar who celebrated his 43rd birthday two days ago.PTI