I had no intention of writing this when I traveled across southern India for 17 days coaching baseball with three pals. Based on what happened, I was compelled to tell the story.
Invited to teach baseball in India, how could I resist. I corralled three buddies and headed over for a seventeen day crisscrossing of southern India’s Tamil Nadu reach to teach the sport to cricket coaches who, in turn, might offer it to kids in school.
When I left home, I had no intention of writing anything. The trip proved so remarkable (and so funny) in so many ways, I almost had to write the travelogue shortly after returning home.
This work was nonfiction and takes the reader along with us, whether it’s in a hire car, motorized rickshaw, broken down truck, or overstuffed train. Everywhere we went we generated great interest, as much for my proclamation that we were “Seaching for the Tendulkar of baseball” as anything else. Sachin Tendulkar, the legendary Indian cricketer, is a national icon—way bigger than any American sports hero. People called radio stations, flagged us down in train stations, came out to see us … all convinced that their son was the one we were hoping to find.
For all the chaos, noise, confusion, mess, and social challenges that go along with 300 million people living on the streets and zebu (cattle) wandering around like they own the place, India is a special place. It will always be a glowing candle of goodness, kindness, and possibility.