sachin tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar reads out father's poem23.50 IST 30th Oct 2007 By Agencies Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar today read out a poem written by his father late Ramesh Tendulkar, a well-known poet and critic, in Mumbai this evening and paid rich tributes to him.He recited the poem titled `Prajakt' on the occasion of `Maharashtra Dharma', a poetry recitation programme arranged by the students wing of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.Ramesh Tendulkar was a well-known critic and a poet."The poem I am reciting has been written by my father. And it reminds me of him," he said."It was during the 1999 World Cup that I lost my father. I had to come back leaving the team midway to Mumbai. Soon after completing the final rites, I joined the team and scored a century," he reminisced.The batting maestro said he always looks skywards after scoring a fifty or a ton to thank God. "But on this occasion (in a match versus Kenya), I looked up and found my father watching me," an emotional Sachin said.Sachin said when invited to today's event, he agreed but did not realise 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 to relieve me of this responsibility. But details of the event had already been published, so I made up my mind to read out a poem," he said.Sachin also re-released historian Babasaheb Purandare's first book `Savitri', written in 1950, on the occasion.