Editor's note: What follows does not purport to be a recounting of real incidents. Readers are requested to take the column in the spirit in which it is intended.

Power and clout. Two different words, that are nearly always used in the same breath. Power and clout. They go together, like Siamese twins. Yet it is not necessary that they are found together. Power is something that a person can achieve if he strives for it. Clout is more subtle, it has to be, like respect, gained after much hard and good work. You go to power, clout comes to you.

If we were to search for the person who has the most clout in India, where would we look? In politics? Does Vajpayee fit the bill. He may since he is the Prime Minister, but what if he is removed from the post tomorrow? He would become then just a man in his own party. Same goes for all other political people -- their clout extends just as far as perimeter of their parties, maybe a little over now and then, but that’s all.

Could we look to Bollywood to find such a person? Sure we could, Dilip Kumar might just be the person, but with the new generation, is he?

Even though you search all over for such a person, there is one name that keeps demanding your choice. One person, who rules the hearts of India, who transcends race, religion, creed or geography. Who, if he were to stand up and speak, would compel all networks to stop regular programming and turn their cameras to him. A person who we love and respect. And perhaps the only person who commands that respect even beyond our shores.

Sachin Tendulkar!

So now read on.

Most of the phones were busy that day, some trying to confirm, some trying to find some meaning to the cryptic piece of information they had received. That piece of information, received by all the newpapers, magazines and networks, without any qualification and explanation was this: "Please be present at Hotel Taj in Mumbai at 10.00 PM tonight. Sachin Tendulkar will address the public and media. The exact location will be announced at the lobby."

That was all. No explanation, no nothing. All those who knew him were trying to get him, unsuccessfully. His home was locked, his friends and neighbors knew nothing. By evening, there was a nation in frenzy. Rumors moved from neighborhood to neighborhood, from city to city, as only rumors can, in whispers and hushed voices. Sachin had been kidnapped, he had disappeared. He was nowhere to be found.

The hotel was a sea of puzzledfaces, much before the time. Men with cameras and crew with all equipment in vans outside to relay things as it happened. In fact most were already on air, speaking before the cameras, with the milling crowd as background. That they had nothing to say was obvious, their faces said that much.

The door of the allotted ball room opened the cameramen ran in first, to secure good place, the best angle. When the hall was full, and the doors closed.

At precisely 10.00 P.M. the door to the right of the stage opened, and the man on everyone’s lips walked in. He was wearing his official India jacket and cap. The silence in the hall was pregnant. No one moved a muscle, no one batted an eyelid, no one dared to breathe. Only the cameras recorded the events and relayed back to the news rooms.

Sachin walked to the microphone, leaned forward and tapped it. It worked. He cleared his throat. Strangely, there seemed to be no signs of any chickenpox on his face.

"My name is Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Thank you for coming here tonight. I have an announcement to make."

He paused, looked at the audience, then at the door he had walked in through. His paused, lingering, a moment of indecision. It passed. He turned the mic again. His look had changed, we have seen this look before, after being beaten three time in a row by Shane Warne’s guile, he had looked towards the sky, and then taken his stance. His face then had said, let's see what you have got, it's you and me now. And the next two balls had been dispatched to the boundary, one without touching the ground. That was the face we saw now, the expression, and that was what it seemed to say, it's you and me, my people, my country, it's you and me.

He cleared his throat again.

"I, Sachin Tendulkar, hereby demand the immediate dissolution of BCCI. The mismanagement must end, now. I demand that all officials of BCCI, elected or appointed, resign or be removed from their respective posts.

"I demand that all those whose names have been involved in the IT and CBI raids remove themselves, or be removed from whatever capacity they hold in cricket.

"I demand that the running and managing of cricket, the affairs of BCCI be handed over to an ad hoc committee consisting of Mr Hanumanth Singh, Mr Polly Umrigar, Mr S. Venkatraghavan and Mr Mansur Ali Khan Patuadi.

"The committee will manage the affairs of BCCI and call for election to the various posts.

"I demand that all affairs of BCCI and other related cricket bodies be audited by independent auditors of good reputation and of non-Indian origin, their findings published. I demand that all affairs of cricket bodies be made and remain public and transparent."

He paused. The silence was deafening. Even though the halls were air conditioned, the sweat had broken on many brows.

He began again, this time his voice was lower, as if weighed down by a burden he found heavy.

"Finally, I hereby resign from cricket. Until such time that the demands are met. If they are not, my resignation will remain permanent."

Pandemonium broke out, everyone was saying something, and no one could be heard.

He raised his hands, asking for silence, and got it. He looked to the door, it opened. Saurav Ganguly walked in, and took the mike.

"I, Sourav Chandidas Ganguly, stand by every word said by Sachin. I too resign from cricket, pending the outcome of his demands. It shall remain permanent if so required."

Sachin took the microphone again.

"Thank you ladies and gentlemen. That will be all."

Oblivious to the pandemonium, they strode out together, Tendulkar and Ganguly. Men who seemed to have added inches, feet to their height in a matter of minutes. Tall men, so tall that they could have reached and touched the sky.....

Okay, I'll be honest. This was just a dream I had.

But what a dream!

And now, in the aftermath, I sit and I think -- we keep saying that the BCCI can never, will never, change. That even the government cannot, in the final analysis, force it to mend its ways.

And in my mind, and heart, there is this voice which says, there is one way that change will come across. One sure way of forcing change. And that is for the most respected cricketer in India today, with the support of some of his team-mates if possible, single-handedly if necessary, to stand up, and be counted.

What do you think?

Shakeel Abedi

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