Tendulkar

So Tendulkar has decided to retire and India has come to a stand still. There is much that is being said, glowing praises of a career pretty much unparalleled, emotional adieus to a man who, as the oft repeated phrase has reminded us time and again, has shouldered the burden of expectations of a billion and some for the last 20 or so years. There is hardly anything new and groundbreaking that can be added to the chorus anymore as far as praising the genius is concerned. His dedication, talent, humility, and single minded devotion to the game have crept into Indian moral lexicon. He is rightfully seen as a glowing testament to several important ideas: the idea of a man beginning from humble roots and achieving true greatness through, what appears to be, an honest and a straight path, the idea of an almost heroic defiance at a time when the people in the country weren't used to such assertiveness, and the simple idea of a person really loving what he's doing more than money, fame, or even success. It is the concentration of such qualities which sets him apart and he is getting all the praise that he rightfully deserves.

But then there's the more muted sort of goodbye which must be proffered by one whose childhood was made better because Tendulkar existed. I have found myself being disillusioned with various facets of sports, especially the kind that is often played now. I find it too crass, too gladiatorial, too stupid. The passions which it seeks to give wind to are the basest of emotions and it seems to turn reasonably tolerable people into complete nincompoops. In its flag waving, chest thumping, fist pumping ridiculousness, sports are not very different from other stupid pastimes like reality shows, soap operas, those ghastly talent shows, crass materialism, most of news nowadays on both the left and the right. And yet there exists the possibility of something really noble appearing in sports. And it often appears as individual genius. Absolute genius. And when that comes about it restores one's belief in the good things in life, in the complex and deep stuff. Tendulkar was one such moment in my life. I didn't realize it when I was young, I could not give words to the complex emotions that I often felt but I think I understand it better now than I did then. He represented the kind of success and the kind of person who doesn't get appreciated much. The one who doesn't beat his own trumpet and doesn't partake in the loud and obnoxious self-aggrandizement which is so much the norm. The one who just does his job and does it better than almost anyone ever did. He represents what Federer also represents. In a world chock full of ready to eat frozen abominations, these people are elaborate recipes lovingly prepared fresh. They are Joyce and Chekhov and Tolstoy and Kafka in a world full of such train-wrecks as Dan Brown and whoever wrote 50 shades or anyone who has ever written a self-help book... Tendulkar is, therefore, much more than a very very good cricketer to me. To me he is a spiffing bloke and the perfect personification of all that is completely opposite to that general umbrella idea which can go by the descriptive adjectives crass and mundane. This is a heartfelt adieu to someone who pulled the correct heartstrings at an impressionable age and encouraged the appreciation of the objectively right stuff.