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”.