The city is quietly gearing up to welcome Bharat Ratna and cricketing icon Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar on August 1 as number of flexi banners have come up hailing his visit — the first after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
A kid, wielding a bat, yelled that one day he would break all the records of the maestro in a banner on M.G. Road and near Delhi Public School, while a huge crimson-coloured billboard, with Sachin’s glowing face, is catching the eyeballs of motorists at the busy Benz Circle.
“Do you have a spare invite?” This is the common query that is doing rounds in the city’s club and media circles.
With folks from PVP Square, the shopping mall which will be opened by Sachin on August 1, making it strictly an ‘only-for invites’ show, the denizens will vie for a vantage point on the aerial road to take a glimpse at the ‘little master’.
The social media — predominantly Facebook — is agog with college students exchanging messages on their bunking of classrooms to take a peep at the legend
However, there is little buzz at the Andhra Cricket Association as the visit is cricketer’s high-profile personal trip.
“Some of our members have received an invitation from the mall owners on their personal capacity. No cricket is involved in Sachin’s trip,” clarified an ACA member.
Accompanying Sachin will be his wife Anjali, close friend V. Chamundeswarnath and film actress Anushka Shetty. The maestro would arrive at the mall at 11 a. m. and would spend 45-minutes going around the mall.
The mall folks have also put a restriction on electronic media for coverage and the entry will be only for the print media.
They will be giving the inputs to all the media houses for coverage once Sachin leaves the city.
