The high-flying sporting hero of our times will be on cloud nine celebrating his 26th birthday. The bash will be on the Emirates flight, which is flying him and the rest of the Indian cricket team to London for the quadrennial World Cup.

After 10 years of leading life like a vagabond, Tendulkar has been able to manage a semblance of family like -- thanks to the two-month recuperation forced upon him by a disturbing back injury. The rest and relaxation phase has enabled the devoted family man to catch up with his daughter Sara and wife Anjali, besides indulge in some of his favourite leisure time activities.

But with the World Cup fast drawing to a close, his divine cricketing skills had to be honed to perfection. Which meant exclusive sessions at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) with some of his Mumbai Ranji Trophy team-mates.

Themercury was just getting to more tolerable levels on Thursday evening when one saw Tendulkar in a relaxed mood after his nets at Mumbai's hallowed Brabourne Stadium. He stood next to his father Ramesh's purple-coloured Zen, parked in the garage of his building Ushakkal in Sahitya Sahawas colony in Kala Nagar, Bandra (East). Sporting a trendy black T-shirt, black-and-yellow striped shorts and a black cap, India's cricketing sensation was awaiting wife Anjali's arrival for a quiet outing.

The day begins for Tendulkar with his fitness regimen. ``He skips and exercises anywhere between an hour or two in the mornings, depending on his schedule,'' said his childhood pal Ramesh Pardhe, who is better known as Tendulkar's `manager.'

Before leaving home at noon for practice at the CCI, Tendulkar usually has a mix of toast, buttered bread and tea, or if he's in the mood for a brunch, on capsicum, stuffed brinjals and other veggies.

``He loves maslibhat (fish and rice) for lunch,'' said one of his childhoodfriends, Himanshu. It is something that he has almost thrice a week.

Tendulkar may be a millionaire, but he remains very much a middle-class man in a middle-class environment. `Tiny Ten' still loves the gully cricket which was where he first learnt the rudiments of the game.

``He finds time to come and play with us at least once a week,'' says his childhood buddy Avinash Govarikar, from whose family Tendulkar bought the third floor of Ushakkal in 1993.

But Tendulkar does not prefer batting with his building buddies. ``Since he is used to playing with the season ball, he does not like playing the rubber ball. Which is why he prefers bowling to batting,'' Govarikar added.

Inside the confines of Sahita Sahawas, Tendulkar enjoys all the peace and privacy that he so craves for something that was strikingly apparent when one saw him on Thursday. The colony boys were engrossed in their game of rubber ball cricket leaving the hero to himself.

``For us, he is not a star. He is still Sacchu to us andabsolutely nothing has changed over the years,'' said one of the enthusiastic participants in the gully cricket.

``Sachin has not changed at all. It is the world on the other side which has,'' opined Govarikar.

Tendulkar is a sports buff. He is good at table tennis, which he plays occasionally with Paris-based globe-trotting banker friend Himanshu.

Tendulkar also loves to play billiards and football.

A well-chronicled fascination of Tendulkar are swanky cars. He owns a status-symbol silver-coloured Mercedes Benz and a black Opel Astra, which he won last year at Sharjah. However, on Mumbai's roads, he prefers to drive his father's Zen because it helps him steer through the traffic relatively easily.

Whether batting or driving, speed is Tendulkar's passion. ``Sachin likes to drive fast cars, but the congested roads of Mumbai are not fit for his joy rides. He's ambition is to drive fast on the autobahns of Germany,'' a close family friend pointed out.

Music is another of his great passion. He has acollection of over 700 compact discs -- Dire Straits, Eagles, and UB 40 being his favourites.