Sachin Tendulkar: Why is he among the greatest Indians?

Sachin Tendulkar: Among the greatest Indians?

When I first created this blog (out of sheer boredom) I knew one thing for certain.  That I will someday write a glowing tribute to the “Special One”. Jose Mourinho may have taken on that title with aplomb in the world of football (or has he?) but for the millions of Indians around the  world there is only one who can be anointed King.  I can wait for Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar to announce his imminent retirement but then this post would become an “also ran”. (I am secretly worried about unfair comparisons (if any) between my silly post and the eloquent prose of the omnipresent Bengali sports writer (and South Indian statistician) who surely will be working overtime then!).  Besides can I even write when I am holding back my tears?  A lot of what is written below can be / and surely will be dismissed as irrational exuberance of a crazy fan but the truth is a lot of objective analysis (and imagination may I argue) has gone into what I am about the say.

To understand the almost God like worship of a mere mortal sportsman you need to understand the larger canvas that he operates in.  And no it’s not the green patch of land that you see on TV.  It’s the enigma called India. To understand Sachin you need to understand India! And what can I tell you about India that you don’t already know. Nothing. But something dawned on me that is relevant to explain the preposterous that I am about to utter.

Should we look at India as a country?  Or is it a continent masquerading as a country? As must be obvious by now I hold the not so obvious view. A country that is so diverse culturally, linguistically, geographically or hell even genetically that it’s a miracle it even came about in the first place.  (I am not about to thank East India company for putting it together because the conception of the “idea” of India was indigenous.)  If Europe is a continent how do we not qualify? We have more official languages (not dialects…actual separate languages with separate scripts) than the whole of Europe put together.  The Kashmiri and the Tamil are so different (culturally & physically) that they make the Germans and the English look like twins.  The Assamese farmer and the Rajasthani trader have zilch in common just like the Spaniards and the Poles. The food from Cochin is as different from the fare that you get in Delhi as Athens and Milan! I can go on but you get the idea. I think. We have magnificently pulled together thus far despite separatist issues which I don’t like to ignore personally but will put aside for the sake of this post. In this canvas of a billion plus diversity operates our superhero. 

Only four other Indians (in my humble opinion) have had a greater influence on the collective consciousness of the Indian mind. Buddha, Ashok, Akbar and Gandhi.  The first, who at his prime united vast swathes of this land by his simplistic yet powerful concepts on living. The next two, rulers who made first attempts at creating a country and establish rules that contributed significantly to what we know today as our constitution. And the last of course the Mahatma who despite skepticism (which shocking and fashionably has carried on till this day) saw us through the last hurdle and did it in some style.  But how can I dare forget countless other greats (scholars, politicians, freedom fighters, artists included) of centuries, decades and generations ago and pick a cricketer to come bat at number 5 in my fantasy list of great Indians?  One let’s admit it’s an endless debate. Two a lot of the others have had great influence over their chosen fields or specific regions but haven’t occupied the same mind space (in a favorable sense of the word of course) across India as the ones I have listed above.  Three we need and deserve a post independence icon. And nobody let’s face it has collectively made us as proud  as this Mumbaikar over the last 60 years.  And as many number of times.  Unlike even 20 years ago where large parts of the country hadn’t fallen to the spell of cricket (and overdose of information) now, thanks to television, it would be impossible for anyone in South Asia (and the rest of the cricketing world) to not have heard the name TENDULKAR. A vast majority will willingly like to be categorized as devotees.  Yours truly included.  Amen.   

P.S: I have in the past jokingly (maybe even seriously) told some of my western colleagues who show interest in travelling to India “If you are ever in trouble say ‘Cricket is my religion, Sachin is my god’. And then say ‘Help’. You will do just fine”.  

Under the carpet

Mudras at New Delhi airport

So I did (could) not execute 1/12^th of my New Year resolution on time. “A post a month” resolution. I am tempted to seek solace in my genuine (and almost original) excuse of insane timelines at work but I am one for looking forward. So here it is. A new post!

Delhi’s new airport terminal (T3) has been described as “swanky” and “glitzy” and no doubt is a hugh improvement over the previous versions. Various reports I have “googled” tell me of the numerous immigration points, check-in counters, aerobridges, travelators, lounges, shower rooms, restaurants, bars, cafes and everything else that you should expect from a world class airport.  First impressions matter. And going by the number of Japanese tourists (I take the liberty of assumption) with cameras in front of the magnificent and tastefully done traditional Indian hand gesture (Mudras) sculptures, so far so good.

But peculiarly first impressions were not what I was thinking about as I walked the long walk from the arrival gate to the immigration check point. (Pretty sure every flight right now is being asked to taxi in at the last possible gate so that the arriving passengers get a full “taste” of our national pride.)  T3 possibly is the most carpeted airport terminal in the world. And not just any carpet. Thick carpet that will suffice for a mattress when your flight’s delayed or give you  enough practice on how to walk on a water bed when you are standing up!!!  As my initial bewilderment of looking at this vast expanse of carpeted area wore off, I wondered how on earth are we gonna keep this bloody thing clean. Pardon my skepticism but will we in three years have the world’s largest dirty carpet???  Very very likely.  I saw the odd janitor at work but something tells me I’ll find it hard to find a dustbin when I need it, a couple of years from now.  We don’t have to build the biggest or the swankiest airport in the world to create a positive first impression. We just need to build a practical airport with standard amenities that we can keep clean with minimum of supervision. Looking forward apparently is not a very common trait!!

State of Miles

2 hrs 34 mins, GRU, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 0 Air Miles

That was nice. The lunch with friends but maybe I shouldn’t have pushed the time again. What if I didn’t get lucky with the traffic? The lady taxi driver did just fine though. “Voce e premiero mulher taxista” I told her in my broken Portugesh. Pleased her plenty I tell you!  Here I am staring blankly at another airport crowd.  Already missing Brazil. 45 more minutes to go before boarding. How am I going to deal with this multi continental journey?  The only book on me is Midnight’s Children and honestly I am not sure if I want to even start it. If the preface is any indicator, Rushdie is going to be about big words that make you wish there was a dictionary app in your head. Sleep. Need it. And Gatorade.

18 hrs 24 mins, JFK, New York, USA, 4760 Air Miles

Don’t remember how much I slept on the flight. Forgot to keep the watch in my pocket but I am sure it was decent.  Thank god I could just drop off my bag after customs and didn’t have to carry it around terminals till check in again.  Still good 8 hours to go.  The lounge is quite and nice. No bed though. The couch will do.  Rushdie is doing OK (I’ll say it for you..."Look at this little p@#$%...what credentials to judge Rushdie!!”). Lots of detail but I get the picture and that’s all that should count to the storyteller.

22hrs 15 mins, , JFK, New York, USA,

Oh that nap on the couch (leg up) felt good. May have come across as a ragged backpacker (or obnoxious Indian! or both!) to the few business travelers (trim and proper) who walked past but what the hell. Needed it.  Woke up dreaming about the Asian woman’s arrest I saw earlier today. Should check if Stoke did us a favour against Chelsea. That will be real cool.

25 hrs 58 mins, JFK, New York, USA

The best thing I have done this trip so far. Check into this lounge instead of going into the city and catch up with friends. I am not just talking about the cost saving but also the effort. Still have 24 more hours to go before I see a bed. The shower was fully equipped. Feel clean except my socks. Worst thing I have done on this trip so far. Forgot to pack one more clean pair of socks in my carry on luggage.  Not done. It ain’t stinking yet but I am conscious.

29 hrs 16 mins, JFK, New York, USA

What a great physical game of basketball!! Unbelievable 3^rd quarter against the Mavs by my fav team (only coz I saw them live once) San Antonio Spurs. Hope they can close out in style coz it might get really really close. Haven’t followed the playoffs this year.  Don’t even know which game this is. Got to hit nba.com once I get back home.

Found socks. Bought it. Hell now I can take my feet out during the flight without worrying too much!! Not that I smell …but 29 hours in the same pair can do it to anyone!! Better safe than sorry. 

I gave Rushdie a break. I think Midnight’s Children has to be another one of my projects like Fountainhead. Picked up Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Couldn’t resist it when I saw it in Hudson News. I ‘discovered’ him following a link from gaurdain.co.uk. It was an article about how a weaker girls basketball team did well in some championship and the philosophy of ‘press’. David vs. Goliath kind of thing. Brilliant it was. Have in the past few months read a lot of his articles and find them extremely interesting. Love the simplicity of his writing and the ‘logicality’ of his thought process. Had to buy this. It’s holding good.

Hungry?  A little. Probably just wait for dinner once I board.  Might catch a movie as well.

31hrs 14 mins, JFK tarmac, York, USA

The rain is really coming down as the flight rolls out onto the runway. Managed a side aisle with no one next to me. English newspaper with all the football action from the weekend. Not bad huh?

31hrs 32 mins, JFK tarmac, York, USA

Perfect!! The flight’s f@#$%^g delayed due to bad weather. Do we really need to add any more minutes to this crazy trip??

41 hrs 19 mins, Mid Air (must be somewhere over Europe or closer to Middle East actually)

Don’t know when but at some point during the night my legs hurt. I think I just stood up, stretched my legs and then napped again with both my legs up. Helps that the flight is empty.

Watched Crazy Heart. Uncanny similarity to The Wrestler. One a wrestler…the other a country singer…but everything else is déjà vu! Btw the flight was delayed by ‘only’ 45 minutes. Not bad considering it was really pouring ‘cats and dogs’ in New York. As long as I and my bags can make it to the connecting flight I won’t complaint.

45 hrs 26 mins, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 11610 Air miles

Maybe an hour to go before boarding my last flight to Delhi.  If there was anymore delay at JFK probably would have missed this connection or at least my bags would not have made it. I still don’t know if it will make it. It should. Can’t afford that to happen. This time I did not see the magnificent blue dome of this airport that I saw last time. Really cool. Wish I could just step out for a bit. Never really seen Middle East. Oh if only I could step out and explore the country in between connecting flights I would have ended up seeing twice as many countries. Lost count of the number of European airports I have been to. Never stepped out.

Desktops with metal keyboards and free internet access. The keyboard feels weird but heck it works. 2 in 3 people were on Facebook.  It’s amazing how many people around the world are on Facebook. And half of them are addicted.  I updated my status too. “44 hrs on the road…and one more flight to catch to Nova Delhi…beat that CLOONEY”. Obvious reference to Up in the Air. Only difference is right now I don’t see the sultry seductress in sight!! Most are covered head to toe. One thing that was obvious, last time I was here, was the dependence of these Middle Eastern cities/ airports on immigrants.  Pretty much everybody working here (except security) is either from the Sub continent (Indian, Pakistani) or South East Asian (Pilipino, Malay). Looking forward to Delhi and some unhealthy but spicy food!! Hopefully my roomie shows up at the airport. He doesn’t have the best track record to be honest. Need to buy daru for him at duty free.

51 hrs 22 mins, New Delhi, India, 13030 Air miles

Bed.

Brazil's "Route to the Indies"

It’s really amazing how well connected the world has become.  And I don’t necessarily mean economically or even geographically. In fact I can get carried away by my current job profile and say geographic distances don’t really matter (only coz my company pays for my ticket J) but surely its has become a lot more affordable to a lot more people to say the least.  But what is really amazing is how well the world is integrating culturally.  I for example just finished watching a Japanese and an Iranian movie thanks to torrents. Had Vietnamese ‘Pho’ soup for lunch and am craving some Brazilian “café” to set right this lazy afternoon in Brussels. And in every big city in every corner of the world people are discovering a culture other than their own in restaurants, television, movies and of course the Internet.  In fact I’ll stick my neck out and say that there is not so much of a cultural difference around the big cities of the world especially if you come from middle class families (and above…lucky B@#$%^&s! J).  You grow up watching the same silly stuff on T.V, playing the same video games, listening to pretty much the same tried and tested bands from America or UK and spend half a day checking out other people’s profiles on Facebook.  A young kid growing up in a nice apartment building in Mumbai for example probably has more in common with someone from Johannesburg or Auckland than let’s say some kid from Hanamkonda in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh, India (I just looked up the place in Google Maps…so don’t worry if you have never heard if it). You could look at that last bit as a negative but for now I would much rather ponder over the beauty of the ‘commonalities’. Now that the theorizing is done…here’s a story.

Here I was on Copacabana beach talking to my new friends and they want to know about the untouchables from India. 

“Untouchables?” 

“Yeah Dalits?”

As baffled as I was about their knowledge of the caste system, I went on to explain (somewhat untruthfully…if I am completely honest) that caste divisions are more prominent in villages and that most urban Indians don’t care about stuff like that.

“But where the hell did you learn about it??  Textbooks??” I asked worried that Brazilian kids are probably learning a negative aspect of my country right in school!

“No! Caminhos das Indias…it’s a soap opera on T.V.  Its in Portuguese with all Brazilian actors but shot in India.  They don’t let the lead characters marry each other because one’s a Dalit and the other's upper caste!”

“Wow” I am thinking. “What an original Indian story!” J

The 'Money Order' Economy!

I have had better starts to a new year than this!! Just got back from warm and sunny Kerala to a wet and cold NYC and to add to my misery ...it sucks at work right now. But I aint bothering my accidental reader with all that. Let me think up something else to write about.

They call it ‘God's Own country’ …my little native state of Kerala, India. Its green, fertile, beautiful and was named as one of the "ten paradises of the world" and "50 places of a lifetime" by the National Geographic Traveler magazine. It’s also has one of the highest standards of living in India, highest literacy rates, high life expectancy, low infant mortality, highest per capita consumption of alcohol (YAY!!), etc etc. I can go on but honestly I got no right to brag considering how little time I have spent there (having grown up all over India). And besides it’s easier to look it up on wiki or something. That will give you the bad side as well coz I conveniently will forget to mention that bit :)

One of the more fascinating aspects of the state though is its economy. Well it’ essentially was an agricultural society and that should come as no surprise considering the amount of rain it gets (touchwood!) but it has now moved towards the Service sector. But as any Malu (short form for Malayali {native Keralites}…fondly {hopefully!} used in urban India) will tell you, as will countless articles on the web, one of the significant contributors to the Kerala economy is what they call the Non Resident Keralite (NRK) styled after the Non Resident Indian. He / she (very likely a she…and very likely a nurse!) sends a mind boggling amount of foreign remittance back home (Social scientists on the web call it the ‘Money Order’ economy) and build fancy houses that their old parents struggle to maintain (since maids are not as common a phenomenon as some other parts of India…I think it’s the prohibitive labour costs), buys land and of course gold. Nothing wrong with it. After all that’s the reason they went abroad in the first place. Financial security for themselves and their loved ones.

But I saw something quite remarkable this time I was back home. No our neighbors’ did not add a third floor to their 4000 square feet house!! A fine Indian American doctor by the name of Dr. Jose C Mantil sponsored a new state of the art school building for the village which I was told must have cost him over half a million dollars. Apparently Dr.Mantil’s father was the first principal of the school and he himself a student. Half a million dollars is a lot of money in any country and at any stage of your life. Even if there is an emotional attachment (like Dr. Mantil clearly has) rarely do Non Resident Keralites, Non Resident Indians or Non Resident Anywheres part with such large sums of money. I am not judging them but think about it. Dr.Mantil could have easily bought his kids a Cadillac each. Or done something else most of us would do. But he did not and that calls for a Thank you even though I never studied in the school and barely know anybody in the village except immediate family.

What was also interesting was that the school organized a Cultural parade around the village. Now it wasn’t exactly like the one in Rio or Macy’s but it was interesting to watch :) The school is run by some Catholic priests but the parade included traditional attire from all religions. I thought that was pretty cool. My mom woke me up from my afternoon nap and made me run half a mile just to make sure I get the event on camera :) I though it was good enough to post it in Youtube. I skipped the whole opening ceremony bit as soon as the local politicians started rambling but was told later that some old village football stars were also honored. Apparently football used to be pretty big in the village at one time. OK…that explains something!!!!

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Google induced after thought fact: Per the World Bank, India has retained its position as the highest recipient of global remittance flow at $52 billion in 2008. China, Mexico and Philippines are 2,3 and 4. Kerala accounts for almost a fifth of all NRI remittances.

God bless the Malu Nurse!!!

Fairness cream to get through immigration???

World's No. 1 fairness cream for sissys!

I am back home for Christmas...doing what most honorable Indians do when they have time to kill…watch batsmen number 5 & 6 try and resurrect the innings after an all too familiar top order collapse. Actually I shouldn’t say that. They have become more consistent over they last couple of years except maybe Shewag but then that’s a given. We just have to live with the way he is!!

But I’ll tell you what I can’t live with. Men’s fairness cream advertisement. No it’s not about the fact that these tend to be aired mostly between two perfectly entertaining overs. It’s the whole fricking concept of fairness cream. Which other country in the world sell this rubbish??? And that too for Men!! No I didn’t just discover them. They have existed for years. But what really pisses me off, now more that ever, is that I see Bollywood stars endorsing it. The last one hour has been as much a battle of John Abraham vs Shahrukh Khan endorsing their preferred brand of Men’s fairness cream as bat vs ball.

Shahrukh Khan!!! This articulate and well read (apparently!) Bollywood star expects a white American immigration officer (who probably hasn’t watched a Hollywood movie in years!) to recognize him and not apply the unfortunate but very real ‘racial profiling’ standards applied to hundreds of thousands of Muslims who dare travel internationally. “Racism” screamed the Indian media. Even India’s home minister pitched in! I am certainly not condoning the detention at Newark airport but to expect a US immigration office to recognize Shahrukh Khan is weirder than to expect an Indian immigration officer to recognize Matt Damon! Angelina might pass though :)

Coming back to the point I was trying to make. It’s absurd to see Shahrukh Khan in these ads. Why? Because it’s a product that originates from an underlying racist mentality. And for someone of his influence over young minds to endorse a product that quite blatantly implies that there is something wrong with being born dark skinned is shocking!! It shows how self serving his tirade against racial profiling in the US was. And that no amount of fairness cream will make him white enough to get through immigration.