SHORTLY before midnight on the first Sunday of October, the Sahar international airport in Mumbai looked like a place that had just been evacuated following a bomb scare. Airline check-in staff at the counters might have never looked quite as relaxed in peak business hour in their entire lives as they did on that night, lazily sipping coffee and chatting even as the odd passenger - anxiety written large on his face - headed towards Immigration and Customs.
At the basement restaurant, the silence was sepulchral. As a pair of U.S. bound passengers stared vacantly into the television screen displaying departure and arrival schedules, a waiter handed out the menu card and, rather than recommending the Chef's special of the evening, whispered to us in a conspiratorial tone: "American airstrikes have begun in Afghanistan."
At the best of times, anxiety is part of the carry-on baggage of air travel, so to say. But these were hardly the best of times to board a flight en route to the United States and a few dozen passengers bound for London on the British Airways flight anxiously peered at the TV screen until the minute the boarding announcement was made.
"I wouldn't say our timing has been perfect," ventured an English businessman seated next to me on the flight. "Are you travelling to London too?"
When I told him that I was travelling to the United States to report on a Davis Cup tennis match between India and the U.S., the Englishman almost jumped out of his seat, his mouth wide open in a spontaneous expression of surprise.
"Are you saying that the Americans are still playing serious sport when all this is happening in Afghanistan?"
In his place, a John McEnroe might have said, "You cannot be serious!"
But, serious or not, sport did go on not long after the events of September 11, the day that changed the course of world history. The only difference is, we began to view sport with a new pair of spectacles.
"Something like this puts things in perspective. You suddenly realise that sport is such a small thing," said Patrick McEnroe, the U.S. captain, on the eve of the tie against India at Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "But we are tennis players and this is what we do. Life goes on."
Indeed, life has gone on since September 11, on and off the fields of play. But what the cataclysmic terrorist strikes in New York and Washington and their aftermath enacted in what seems one of the modern world's permanent theatres of war - Afghanistan - have accomplished is to put sport in its place.
Sport is a world of illusions and in times of relative peace, we tend to get carried away, flying on the wings of fantasy. We constantly feed sport's own sense of self-importance, seeking to promote it to the front pages of newspapers.
And in the high noon of commercialisation, when greedy agents and promoters unabashedly work up tidal waves of hype vis a vis events and sporting stars, and quite often television commentators too become indistinguishable from public relations personnel, it takes something like the New York/Afghanistan tragedy to bring us back down to earth in the world of sport.
Of course, the biggest culprits in this hype business are the Americans themselves. If not for September 11, an ageing Michael Jordan's latest comeback on creaking knees might have taken more newspaper space than the plight of Afghan refugees. The defeat of the New York Yankees in the so-called World Series might have been mourned to a greater degree than lives lost at home and elsewhere.
In the event, it is precisely because of the Americanisation of the world's sporting culture - something achieved long before the advent of globalisation - that we came to view sporting events through magnifying glasses.
But, somehow, this is a year when a missed penalty, a botched pitstop, a run out debacle or a critical double fault did not seem quite as monumentally relevant as they might have been in any other year.
Then again, all this only for a short time, to be sure. Even as the last of the Taliban put down their arms in Afghanistan, sport began its comeback with a vengeance - not the least in India, where the Mike Denness-triggered controversy was blown out of proportions for reasons that were partly justifiable but largely ludicrously political and short-sighted.
Whether the penalties imposed by a trigger-happy Scotsman on six Indian cricketers in South Africa were as hugely significant as the economic slowdown or the still-simmering Kashmir issue is hardly relevant.
For, caught in the middle of the controversy was the country's No. 1 icon, Sachin Tendulkar. And even the mere suggestion of a threat to the heroic status of the Mumbai maestro was enough to incite a whole nation into a war-like frenzy.
In a nation starved of genuine sporting heroes, Tendulkar is, of course, a one-of-a-kind, hugely popular, clean, straight, performing genius without a major flaw at a time when India is aggressively seeking to establish its place among the powerful countries.
Then again, if a silly mistake - a technical error, to be precise - on the part of the great man was exaggerated by the match referee, then the events enacted at Port Elizabeth came in handy for a bunch of administrators to engage in game of rapid chess in which Virender Sehwag was no more than a pawn sacrificed readily.
In India, at least, sport's comeback was complete. It was back where it belonged - where illusion shakes hands with reality and both give and take a little - or, in the least, where we want it to belong.
That is just as well. For, wherever we might choose to place sport in the larger scheme of things, in the bigger picture, there is no denying the fact that it is only when we start indulging in sport, in something as trivial as sport, that we finally get the reassuring feeling that all is right with the world, that things are back to normal.
After all, constant indulgence in sport is a luxury. And in times of major crises we cannot afford this luxury, or, perhaps feel ashamed to be indulging in it, no matter that sport is the human race's one common language.
And, at the end of the day, sport is important simply because it is unimportant. Sport is hugely relevant simply because it is trivial.
Whether you look at the following as a 2001 Trivia List or the highlights of the world of sport during the year is entirely up to you. To me, as I look back on the year, these are the things that readily come to mind.
An innings of a lifetimeThere is nothing official about it. But bookmakers in India - legal or illegal, there are more of them in this country than in nations such as Britain and Australia where sports betting is legal - were offering upwards of 50-1 when India followed on, 274 runs behind, in the Kolkata Test against the mighty Australians.
And when the incomparable Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed, the odds rose to 66-1. Perhaps in few other one-on-one contests - team or individual - you might have come across such ludicrous odds.
But given the fact the Australians had thrashed the home team in the first Test and had won 16 Test matches in a row, and in the light of India's own pathetic inability to match the world champions until then, the odds were understandable.
It takes a truly monumental effort to surmount such odds. And Venkat Sai Laxman came up with just that, something that is, arguably, the finest batting performance for India in Test history and, inarguably, the tallest score by an Indian in Test cricket.
With tremendous support from a determined Rahul Dravid, Laxman feasted on the dazed Aussie attack as the pair put on a record 376 runs for the fifth wicket. The visitors, so sure of themselves in a Test arena for so long, suddenly lost their way.
Demoralised by the sheer magnitude of the Laxman masterpiece, Steve Waugh's men collapsed in a heap as Harbhajan Singh's bounce and turn won the match for India. The young, zestful Sikh would do it again in Chennai in the third Test, but not even the 28 wickets he picked up in two matches can match Laxman's 281. For, that was an innings of a lifetime.
A fairytale comebackAt 14, she was a multi-millionaire megastar. By the time she celebrated her 18th birthday - if at all she did, given the state in which she was then - Jennifer Capriati had already fallen into a deep hole. Before long, she was forgotten, her name synonymous with a warning rather than an example for other teen aspirants in the sport.
And even after she began her long, tedious climb all over again in the second half of the 1990s, nobody gave her a chance to achieve anything of significance as the Grafs, Hingises and the Williams sisters dominated the centre stage.
In the event, even after Capriati made the semifinals of the 2000 Australian Open, nobody took her seriously. But a magic fortnight in January 2001 changed everything.
Playing the most authoritative - if not the finest - tennis of her career, the resurgent Capriati won her maiden Grand Slam title at Melbourne, beating a jaded Martina Hingis in the final.
Five months on, she added the French title to her collection and continued to play high quality tennis through the year.
Lindsay Davenport beat her to the year-end No. 1 ranking but few would deny Capriati the Woman of the Year vote in tennis.
King MichaelFormula One racing is a complicated business. It is not like most other sports where unequalled talent and hard work would surely catapult a person to the very top. There are too many equations out there on the track, too many imponderables.
And it takes greatness of the brand symbolised by Michael Schumacher to battle with courage on all fronts and leave the opposition a long way behind. But even for the great German, it has not been easy.
To get where he is today - the winningest Formula One driver in history in terms of the numbers of Grands Prix won - Schumacher has had to work miracles along with dozens of nameless, faceless Ferrari mechanics.
Few great drivers in the history of the sport might have built up the sort of rapport that Schumacher now has with Team Ferrari and his fourth driver's championship was won with consummate ease. Not many motor sports fans would bet against Schumacher matching Juan Manuel Fangio's record five titles next season.
End of an era?As the teenaged giant Roger Federer sank to the turf at Wimbledon, one of the most incredible streaks of domination in modern sport came to an end. Pete Sampras, winner of a record seven Wimbledon titles in eight years, had lost his kingdom.
You can argue all you want about whether Sampras is the greatest tennis player of all time or whether Rod Laver or Bill Tilden or Don Budge or Bjorn Borg may have better credentials.
But when it comes to the home of tennis, Wimbledon, all arguments cease. Sampras is The Greatest Wimbledon champion of all time. And Wimbledon is the greatest tennis tournament there is.
Whether Sampras, who has not won a title since breaking Roy Emerson's record on beating Pat Rafter at Wimbledon in 2000 for his 13th Grand Slam title, has it in him to win another one at the All England Club is debatable.
Obviously, the great man is convinced that he can. For, he has hired a new coach, Tom Gullikson - brother of his longtime coach Tim who died six years ago - for the 2002 season.
Ecstasy and agonyIf sport itself is a great leveller, then few can match golf when it comes to bringing the great champions back down to earth.
When Tiger Woods won his fourth major title in a row, and his second green jacket at the Masters in Augusta, Georgia, last April, golf critics were wondering if any other contemporary champion had a chance to win a major title ever again so long as Tiger was in the field.
If it was not a calendar year Slam, then what Tiger had accomplished was certainly the greatest feat in the history of the sport. For, never has golf seen such a dominant champion as the invincible Mr. Woods.
Ah, but what a strange matter sport is! Since winning at Augusta, Tiger has struggled for the most part, falling from his immortal pedestal to the level of mere mortals.
There is a lot of talk about the swing that has gone haywire. But, the truth is, sport is a world of wild swings, a bufoon may be fatal to them.
Jumbo's safe landingAnil Kumble (nicknamed Jumbo) went into the Bangalore Test against England needing a solitary wicket to become the first Indian spinner to get to the 300-wicket mark. Expectations were high when England batted first. But, ironically, India's most successful slow bowler of all time went wicketless on the opening day, much to the disappointment of the home crowd.
But Kumble finally managed to reach the magic figure when he had the last man Matthew Hoggard leg before, shortly after lunch on the second day. It was a remarkable achievement indeed by a man who struggled for the most part on the tour of South Africa.
Then again, when he bowls in India, Kumble is a different bowler altogether. For him, home is not merely where the heart is, but more importantly it is where the wickets come from.
Goodbye DonPele in football. Muhammad Ali in boxing. Michael Jordan in basketball. Nadia Comaneci in gymnastics. Every sport has an icon who is incomparable.
But perhaps no sport has an all-time No. 1 who is - and will continue to be - so far away from the rest in terms of what he accomplished. Sir Don Bradman's feats with the bat will never be matched.
In the passing of the Don, cricket lost its greatest batsman of all time. A tally of 6,996 runs in 52 Tests (70 completed innings) for an average of 99.94 is not only mind boggling but is something that makes you want to say: That's It!
There is no such thing as a sure thing in sport. But it is unimaginable that someone would come along and average more than 99.94 after playing 50 Tests. The only cricketer who can even hope to match Sir Don in stature is Sir Gary Sobers.
A pair of championsAfter going through a horrendous 2000, when nothing went right for them and their differences of opinion threatened to end their famous partnership for good, Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes rediscovered themselves as genuine world beaters this year.
When the partnership was revived last April, few would have imagined the Indian pair would win another Grand Slam less than two months on. But that is exactly what Bhupathi and Paes did, as they took their second French Open title in style.
If that triumph held out a lot of promise, then the pair hit a trough again at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. No matter that, it is once again obvious that when they play their best tennis, these two Indians are, arguably, the finest pair in the game today.
Promise of a new dawnFew sports are quite as integral to India's sporting culture as is hockey. Before a religion called cricket won millions of new converts, hockey was deemed India's national sport.
But a nation that won a record eight Olympic gold medals in hockey has suffered for too long in the middle and lower levels of the sport.
It is in this context that the spectacular triumph of the Indian junior hockey team at Hobart, Tasmania, offers just a glimpse of a glorious new dawn. There is many a slip between the junior level and the senior level, so to say, but there is no doubt that the Indian junior team packed a lot of quality.
An unlikely climaxIt was an unlikely climax to an extraordinary career in men's tennis at Wimbledon this year as Goran Ivanisevic, who had lost in three previous finals, posted an emotional five-set victory on a People's Monday over Pat Rafter.
In one of the most intense and dramatic five-set finals, Ivanisevic, who needed a wild card to play in the event, brought up a famous victory that left him in tears on the famous turf.
Entering the event ranked 125 in the world, and available with the bookmakers at a lucrative 125-1 before the start of the fortnight, Ivanisevic, one of life's perennial No. 2s until then, transformed himself into a champion of substance at age 29.
He was not only the first wild card to win a Grand Slam singles title but also the first left hander since John McEnroe to win the Wimbledon title.
Giants become dwarfsBrazilians in football. The West Indies in cricket. They were two of a kind. Brazil's beautiful game and the Windies's aggressive, uninhibited cricket made for pure romance, unalloyed joy.
Ah, those were the days! For, even as the Windies continued to plumb new depths, thrashed 3-0 by Sri Lanka, the Brazilians just about managed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup.
While the Windies's slump began quite some time back, for the Brazilians, who were surprisingly beaten 3-0 by France in the last World Cup final, the World Cup qualifying matches turned out to be some sort of a nightmare.
The men from the land of Pele, Jairzinho, Tostao and Zico struggled through much of the way, losing 0-2 to lowly Honduras before finally squeezing in.
"Teams used to be frightened of Brazil because they had great footballers like Pele and Tostao - but no longer," said Ramon Madariaga, the Honduras coach.
Nor is any cricketing nation frightened of the West Indies anymore. The men from the land of Gary Sobers and Viv Richards surprise you these days only when they record the odd victory.
Hewitt hits the high groundRight from the time he became one of the youngest winners on the ATP Tour in January 1998, winning the Adelaide event at age 16, Lleyton Hewitt has been marked out for greatness.
But few would have believed, before the start of the last Grand Slam event of the season, the U.S. Open, that the 20 year old would become the youngest year-end No. 1 in history this season.
After coming back from the brink to beat Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals, Hewitt was virtually unstoppable as he raced past Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the semifinals before sweeping aside the meagre challenge of a tired, jaded Pete Sampras in the U. S. Open final.
Yet, the best came close to the end of the year at Sydney where the young man beat his good mate Pat Rafter to claim the year-end No. 1 ranking before winning the Masters Cup.
Gopi Chand's featAs a sports loving nation, India has only a handful of world beaters. A Viswanathan Anand here, a Sachin Tendulkar there. A pair of tennis players (Bhupathi and Paes) and the odd weightlifter.
In the event, Pullela Gopi Chand's spectacular triumph in the All England badminton championship at Birmingham early in the year was certainly a sliver of hope, a silver lining.
Twenty one years after Prakash Padukone won the famous title, Gopi Chand overcame tough odds to match the maestro. Working under the SAI coach Ganguly Prasad, the hard working man from Hyderabad played his best when beating Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark in the semifinals and then Chen Hong of China in the final.
The Lara symphonyWhen his mind is wandering, when he not quite there, Brian Charles Lara's batting would hardly help him make the Tamil Nadu Ranji Trophy team. The string of single digit scores would read like a telephone number.
Yet, when he is on song, Lara takes batting to such an exalted realm that not even the finest batsman of the generation, Sachin Tendulkar, can match him there.
Buoyed by some timely advice from the greatest West Indian cricketer of all time, Sir Gary Sobers, Lara was at his very best in Sri Lanka late in the year as he hit a double century and two centuries while piling on 688 runs in six innings.
But unfortunately he dislocated his left elbow in a collision with Marvan Attapattu on the field during a one-day international and will be out of the game for at least six weeks.
The master's milestonesAnyone who has anything to do with cricket has known for some time now that Sachin Tendulkar would rewrite almost every single batting record - barring the untouchable batting average of Don Bradman - by the time he chooses to say goodbye to international cricket.
This year, the master batsman from Mumbai crossed two significant milestones. He has now scored over 10,000 runs in limited overs cricket and over 7,000 in Test cricket.
Still only 28, the little man will have set his sights now on Sunil Gavaskar's 34 Test hundreds although Allan Border's record Test tally of 11,174 runs is some distance away.
A champion and a gentlemanFew cricketers, and perhaps no other fast bowler, could have been as universally well loved as Courtney Walsh. The Jamaican giant was as much a hero at Chennai as he was in Kingston and Sydney and Port Elizabeth.
He may not have had the strike power of a Dennis Lillee or the strike rate of a Malcolm Marshall but Walsh was a match winner in his own way and he ran up the sort of endurance record that would be hard to match.
In 18 years of Test cricket, Walsh, who retired this year, picked up a record 519 wickets. Unlike many other fast bowlers, he was very good until the very end, picking up 25 wickets in his last series against South Africa at age 38.
The game and its millions of fans will miss the gentle giant.
The Muralitharan magicHow many spinners have bagged eight wickets in an innings against an Indian Test side in a match played in the sub-continent?
Well, this is not the trivia question of the week. It is only mentioned to highlight the significance of Muttiah Muralitharan's stunning performance on the opening day of the third Test against India at Colombo.
The off-spin legend bagged eight for 87 and put his team on the road to a series triumph on the very first day of the Test match.
But then, when it comes to Murali, nothing is a surprise. No contemporary spinner can turn the ball in vastly different pitch conditions as does Murali who is now edging towards the 400-wicket mark in Tests.
Geet does it againFew world champions from India could have been quite as accessible as Geet Sethi. A suave, modest, multi-talented man, Geet considered giving up the game at the top level a few years ago with mounting business commitments taking up much of his time.
But the gifted cueist fought on courageously and will now be very happy that he did not park his cue for good. For, this year, Geet won yet another world championship title.
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