The music that we call, 'The Terrific Trio'

Indian cricket at the moment is going through its biggest transition, one which loomed large for the longer part of everyone’s discussion but to everyone’s surprise, the think tank didn’t show enough guts to address it. And as expected, the results have left the team unprepared and the entire thing looks unplanned. Given the fact that India has always been a batting superpower, the retirements of Dravid and Laxman have left a huge vacuum in the middle order. But for a change, I won’t delve deep into discussions about retirements and replacements, present and future, I would simply say, I’m sad. Yes, I’m sad about not being able to see the Terrific Trio in action anymore. The trinity that treated us with such mellifluous partnerships, match saving innings, winning moments, won’t be at work together anymore.

That for me ends the era which produced a galore of melodious moments, lyrical brilliance, silken success and flowing beauty!

Cricket for me, like many others who are reading this, is the first love; cinema comes a close second. And music is a regular in my day-to-day life. And strangely enough, I always manage to find something musical in both cricket and cinema. Music binds together both my love affairs.

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music” – Aldous Huxley.

Huxley couldn’t have been more correct when he spoke about music in the aforementioned way. Music is a part of life to many of us. Especially, we, the Indians, have a big appetite for all forms of entertainment – cinema, music and cricket. Right from times unknown, there are traces of music deeply rooted in the Indian soil and not so surprisingly, there’s a song for every possible occasion in our lives too. A song on the birth of a child, a song on death, a song for love and a song for sorrow, all stages of life if not melodious literally, does have a musical background.

Coming back to my love affairs, the combination of cinema and music is outright obvious, but cricket and music is something different. On that note (hopefully, a musical one), I will strive to draw a parallel between cricket and music.

The chords, The lyrics, The vocals.

Spare a thought! The wonderful trio that Dravid-Tendulkar-Laxman formed in the middle order of the Test outfit can be actually compared to the basic elements of a song. For starters, the three most basic and indispensable elements of a song are its chords, lyrics and vocals. Chords are better known as the dhun, lyrics are the bol or shabd and vocals is the awaaz. For any song, the chords frame the base or the body, lyrics immerse in the chords and vocals present the combination to produce the song as a whole. Take any of these elements out of the picture and you would have ‘nothing’. Interdependent on each other yet strong as an individual, all these elements don’t create the magic even if one goes amiss. Same is the case with the trinity we are talking about.

Chords frame the skeleton of the song, the base on which a song is built and creates space for other elements to come in. No one can think of anyone other than Dravid who fit the bill in this aspect. He set the tone, assessed the conditions, carved a platform and readied it for others to build on it. Chords and Dravid are synonymous to each other. Just like chords readily embrace lyrics to stitch the outfit of a song, Dravid, all throughout his career built the stage for others to perform.

Next in the process is the entry of lyrics. Poetic and meaningful, artistic and style coupled with substance, mark the very essence of lyrics in a song. The Very Very Special (VVS) Laxman brought all of this in one package. His batting brought meaning to the plans, his silken timing and wristwork talk of style, his memorable knocks showcase the substance he had and his overall batsmanship/craftsmanship was more often than not, regarded as elegance personified. Laxman for most of his career came late in the middle order, needing to embrace the situation upon him and he did that with aplomb. Just like lyrics dresses itself in the chords of the song, Laxman took the team forward by establishing big tasks with relative ease, on the platform laid down by his predecessors.

If not more important than the above two elements, the vocals are considered to be at least as important as them. The melody of the chords and the meaningful poetry which frame the lyrics would all go in vain, if the vocals don’t bring the soul to them. Vocals bring completeness to the song, so does Sachin Tendulkar to the team. For more than a couple of decades, Tendulkar has been the voice of Indian cricket. Just as a singer would lend his voice to a song after understanding the chords and lyrics, Tendulkar has lent his skills, expertise and an unchallenged vision to batting. For a chord to sound melodious and lyrics to be poetic, the vocals need to be spot on and that is what comes together to bring forth a mellifluous song. And in a similar way, Tendulkar is the one who sets poetry in motion.

At times, you might hum the tune. At times, you might find the lyrics enriching. And at times, the quality of singing is extraordinary. But it is only when all of these come together that the entire song becomes worthwhile. Dravid-Tendulkar-Laxman have crafted so much melody together that the thought of it not coming together anymore is disheartening. This dulcet song of Indian cricket will always be remembered for the kind of magic it weaved for a decade and a half.

The music that we call, 'The Terrific Trio'

Without music (Dravid-Tendulkar-Laxman), life would be a mistake. Words fall short when one strives to describe its true essence, it’s better to leave the magic do its tricks and be spellbound yourself.

At times, “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture..”

This article speaks about the sadness of not being able to watch the Terrific Trio together anymore. This was written on the 18^th August, 2011.