Sachin Tendulkar: Man, myth or product of the times?
Sachin Tendulkar..
Anand Vasu
10-Nov-2008
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. At 27 he is not a sportsman anymore, he is a
bloody phenomenon. Reams of newsprint have been filled with
description, analyses and tributes to his genius. Websites have
dedicated huge amounts of space and attention to every little thing he
does. Everything that needs to be written about the man has already
been written. Or has it?
Young cricketers have injected much needed optimism and vigour by
performing splendidly under pressure. Nothing will do more for this
revival than a Sachin Tendulkar hundred at Sharjah, even if he did not
get one in the ICC KnockOut tournament. Is he under pressure to
perform? Does he feel the pressure lifting because some others are
also coming good?
Who really knows what happens in the mind of Sachin Tendulkar? One
notices a collection of details about the man that is not always
visible in other cricketers. He is always the first to practice
sessions. Once he puts on his pads to have a session at the nets, he
does not take his pads off very easily. Even after he is done with
batting, he makes it a point to bowl in the nets till the last man
comes off. He does not say a single unnecessary word to pressmen.
Unless he is terribly mobbed, he always stops to sign autographs for
children. If a photograph is requested, he is polite to a fault. He
always takes a bit of time to ask kids what class they are studying
in, or some similar question that makes them feel that the little
master cares. When disappointed with a decision, he does not make any
untoward gestures. He may look crestfallen, but never steps out of
line.
So is he a paragon of virtue? Certainly not. His manner of captaincy
has left room for a lot of criticism. Firstly he found the task of
marshalling a disparate group difficult. On top of that, his own
batting form took a beating. Another charge that has been leveled
against him is that he tends to look after his friends with special
care. But of course this allegation is rather unsubstantiated.
However, at a time when cricket is going through arguably its most
troubling episode, people are desperate for someone who stands for all
that is good about the game. And Tendulkar is often the man who has to
carry that cross. Does he want to be known as an example of all things
good? Probably not. He wants to be Sachin Tendulkar. With all his
weaknesses and faults. Do we the people let him be that? Certainly
not.
A majority of us look to him to make us feel better. When he walks out
to bat, the weight of the nation's inadequacies is on his shoulders.
What we can't achieve in our day to day lives, we look for Tendulkar
to make up for on the cricket field. If he slams a century and takes
us to victory, all of a sudden the world looks a better place.
Tendulkar is excessively professional in his approach. He is one
cricketer whose integrity has never ever been questioned. One look at
the intensity with which he approaches the game makes it plain that no
bookie would have the guts to approach the man. And yet he got
together with Mark Mascarenhas and WorldTel long before cricket became
the multi-crore industry it is today. The boy wonder signed a landmark
deal that guaranteed crores of income from endorsements. To fulfil his
contractual obligations, he turned up at various functions, endorsed a
range of products from watches to car tyres to credit cards to
toothpaste. Was he selling out? No one remotely suggested that. While
a host of television advertisements based on cricketers has been taken
off the air after the match fixing scandal broke, Tendulkar remains an
eminently saleable commodity.
If an avid cricket lover finds an old lamp, shines it and a genie pops
out offering him any one wish, there would be very little dilemma. "I
wish I could spend 24 hours listening to what goes on in Sachin
Tendulkar's mind" would be his knee jerk reaction. If such a thing
could be done, it would provide priceless insights into modern sport.
At the end of the day one has to admit that Tendulkar is a true
product of his times.
The marketing, the hype, the drive. It is certainly a recent
phenomenon. There was always a drive for excellence. But for someone
to be such a public figure and influence the minds of millions is a
phenomenon that has come about in the last few decades. He is no
statesman, no politician, no religious leader. And yet he holds sway
with as much power of as any one of the above. Whether he faces it or
not, he is one of the few Indians who binds the whole of this country.
Probably, no other person in the country is as uniformly admired as
him. He is in a position of immense power. Did he choose to get to
this position and work towards it? One reckons not. The price he has
had to pay as an individual is incomparable to the rewards. Okay, so a
majority of youngsters in this country would kill to be in his shoes.
But what about the maestro himself? Fortunately or otherwise he
doesn't have a choice.
It is tragic however that a man who has given so much to the country
and touched us all in some way or the other cannot enjoy a moment of
peace when he wants it. If he wants to take his wife Anjali and kids
out to dinner there would be such a mob at the restaurant it would be
claustrophobic.
And what of his kids? Can they ever have a normal upbringing? Will
their friends treat them as just any other kids? That is hardly
possible given the fact that Tendulkar is not any other man. He is
special. Very special. And trapped by that.
When his back injury threatened to ruin his career, the speculation
was immense. Major newspapers and magazines carried detailed medical
diagnosis and plainly asked whether his career was over. There was
even a case of a teenager committing suicide on merely hearing that
Tendulkar might not be able to play again. God forbid, but if
something like that were to happen, where would that leave Sachin
Tendulkar? Sure, he's made enough money to live luxuriously for the
next few generations. But would he be able to live with the fact that
he was ordinary once more?
The media, the sponsors, the people of India have in the last few
years made it extremely difficult for Tendulkar to live with himself
if he was ordinary. A classic product of our times, Tendulkar's life
goes parallel to the likes of Pete Sampras and more distinctly Tiger
Woods. When modern society sees an outrageous talent that is coupled
with the drive to be successful, it seizes upon it like never before.
Even if Tendulkar were content with his achievements and decided to
call it a day, he would not be allowed to without a hue and cry. Let's
face it. He runs the cricket industry in India. Who can see a headline
that has the word Tendulkar in it and ignore it?
If Sachin Tendulkar has a breakdown of sorts at any time, we all will
have blood on our hands. That's a fine way to thank someone who has
given us so much, isn't it?