Sachin Tendulkar: The 'God' particle for the average Indian
Image Courtesy: WashingtonPost
It still remains a mystery who cleped Sachin Tendulkar, the God of Cricket, and when. A flock of fanatical fans of Sachin, probably, carrying around the world embellished displays of banners and posters sketching out the ever memorable proclamation ‘If cricket is a religion, Sachin is God’. Along with it, they carried a tune – a chant, ‘Sachinnn…Saachin’. It reverberated across the galleria like a devotional hymn. It could also be Barry Richards, former South African batsman who stated in black and white, ‘Sachin is cricket’s God’.
Nevertheless, since a person or time is mute before the theology of Almighty, faith prevails over hesitation – to blatantly accept what is believed universally true. Tendulkar is the God of Cricket, Sach Hain!
India’s diversity is represented at best by the innumerable idols and deities worshipped upon across the length and breadth of the country. The country is still as diverse as the flora and fauna that are yet to be accounted for by the scientific community. We have our own haunted Amazons as well as abysmally deep blue seas on the realms of social fabric.
In a culturally chaotic nation, there was only one place where the outcasts rubbed shoulders with the aristocrats and shared bhelpuri chaat – a cricket stadium, to catch a glimpse of their impression of God, Sachin Tendulkar. Irrespective of the delusion of religion instilled in every Indian, there was a common temple and a common God. Unity in diversity stepped to the fore.
There are several attributes ascribed to God, of which the prominent ones are omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient.
Sachin is ubiquitous in the Indian household. The millennial India rose up in the morning to a mug of ‘Boost’ blended with secrets of Sachin’s energy. To be God, an apple from the Eden was not enough but a shot of thick chocolaty drink was very much needed. That was the trust carried over by generations.
A whole generation counted days, months and years around Sachin’s calendar of activities. Days since he played an international game, months since he hit a century and years since he played the last world cup. Every speck of life revolved around him like the rings of Saturn in the cosmic plateau. In schools, recess ran longer when Sachin was batting, school dispersed early when he was in his 90’s, rather kids leapt over the school fences to mark their presence before the television set when their idol reached another milestone. Missing the act of Sachin raising his bat was more sinful than failure to attend Eucharistic celebration every Sunday.
Bible says, the omnipresent God is sacredly present and becomes known in special places where God chooses to meet us. Sachin appeared at the Karachi, the Chepauk, the Eden Gardens, the SCG, the Sharjah, the Centurion, the Premadasa, and his followers fell on their knees to worship the omnipresent Sachin. Standing ovations he received was devotion at the highest order.
In the cricket’s universe, Sachin is the omnipotent deity characterised by unlimited power. He carried the heaviest willow around to negate the fiercest of zombies with a ball bulleted at his pedestal. ‘Power’ glued on top of his bat was mistakenly taken as an advertisement sticker. It was a word of caution from the heavens. The two impeccable centuries in Sharjah 1998 remains the authoritative signature of omnipotence over the mortal Goliaths who played the game.
In the later stages of the career, his meticulousness drove him to valleys of mature game plans. Unlike the old testimony in Bible where God is belligerent, the new testimony sermonize a benevolent and forgiving Lord. Similarly, in the later stages of his career, Sachin took a modest stance while accepting a few blows on his body. During that stage, ‘More Runs came in Fours’ –MRF. Until then MRF was unknown. Many believed it was a dilapidated rubber factory in the distant outskirts of Madras, and He himself came to their rescue.
Along the streets of His abode, children enigmatically engraved MRF on their cricket bats, especially the feeble ones whose bones couldn’t bear a brunt of hard leather due to calcium deficiency. For them, an MRF bat was the source of enough power and voluble confidence to stand upright against the thugs in the gullies, who otherwise clawed the fragile batsmen in them. MRF bat was the cross to evade the devil.
Inarguably, Sachin is the epitome of cricket. He knows everything that is there to know, hence he is omniscient. Cricket’s copybook was published long back, it was there to read. But the master illustrator was born much later named Sachin Tendulkar. Knowledge itself is power but when it is left unexecuted one falls prey to the miserable fate of Karna forgetting his knowledge of the most powerful weapons when needed the most. Sachin was not meant to succumb to such ill-fate. He was more than human.
During one of the recent IPL’s when Sachin drove Ishant Sharma straight down the wicket, Harsha Bhogle said, “Open the text book, turn to page no. 32”. That sums it all up. As beautifully described by Rahul Dravid, “Sachin has everything a cricketer needs to have. You can’t get a more complete cricketer than Sachin”.
In the final lap of his marathon cricket career, he wields a bat embossed ‘Adidas’. That is a soulful prayer he would teach his disciples before he leaves for once and for all – ‘All Day I Dream About Sachin’. Yet man can’t help but be greedy – to see Sachin again – ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’.