Fan builds 'ideal' stadium for Sachin

While cricket fans were upset with the rain on Sunday, T Suresh, a mechanic-driver from Austin Town, was trying to find out the Mumbai address of his idol, Sachin Tendulkar. "I want to send him a model stadium I built for him,'' he says. The `Little Genius Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar Stadium' is a miniature built out of 4,000-5,000 grass sticks on a canvas measuring just 32 inches x 18 inches. It has not just the pitch and gallery, but also floodlights, rooms for commentators and VVIPs, practice nets and even a small restaurant. While there's no space for parking, that's the case everywhere, he says, on a lighter note. An ardent Sachin fan, Suresh hit upon the idea in January 2002. He completed it after much brainwork in 2004. But meeting the Little Master and showing him the model took more time. "This was probably the worst period of my life. People around me thought that I was out of my senses, trying to meet Sachin,'' he told TOI. But it finally happened during the India-Australia test match in Bangalore in October. "That was the ultimate moment. His reaction remains fresh in my memory,'' he says, thrilled that the master blaster -- who saw all the rooms and facilites in this model stadium -- was impressed by it. Now, he wants to send it to his hero. Further, he fears that packing this fragile material into a box might damage his years of efforts in making the stadium. "But, I will send it to Sachin'' he says with a broad smile, not giving up hopes yet.