What does Sachin Tendulkar mean to India, a busy, bustling, thriving and diverse nation of 1.25 billion people? Well, what does Allah mean to Muslims? What does Jesus mean to Christians? What does, for that matter, Justin Bieber mean to pre-teens?!
India is a nation of several religions, and countless Gods. Indians are also divided by their religions and their Gods. But the ‘God’ who has totally dominated the consciousness of every Indian, regardless of his or her faith, caste, class, education or language, has been an extremely soft spoken, very polite, diminutive curly haired man, no more than five feet four inches in height, an extraordinary man, a man who had carried on his stout shoulders the hopes and aspirations of a billion for well over two decades.
Sachin Tendaulkar – The younger years
When Sachin Tendulkar first played for India, he was a very frail, 16-year old kid, who looked even younger than his years. It was the year 1989, India were playing arch-
enemy Pakistan in a Test series. Pakistan had a fearsome pace attack, led by the legendary Imran Khan, comprising of perhaps the best fast bowling duo that the game of cricket has ever seen, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. The two men were at their absolute prime, terrorizing the Indian batsmen with their venomous pace and swing, cheered on by a blood thirsty crowd.
And here comes out a 16-year old boy after the fall of the fourth Indian wicket in the second test match at Faisalabad, with his helmet looking way bigger than his head, taking his guard against the ferocious Waqar Younis. Showing no mercy, Younis sends in a nasty bouncer which hits the young boy right on his nose. The boy falls down, with blood all over his face. His partner, the Indian opener Navjot Singh Sidhu, is worried, asks him if he’s alright. The boy immediately gets up, and says, in a small but determined voice, “Mein Khelunga!” – I will play. And play he does, scoring his first half century off 99 balls, going on to score a well composed 76 off 155 balls. Anybody who had seen him on that day would have known that the kid was special.
How special? The boy who got hit on his nose by a Waqar Younis bouncer, went on to play for 24 years for his country, 
often single-handedly carrying his under-performing team along with the strength of his amazingly consistent performances, winning matches that looked lost, doing the impossible on more occasions than anyone can possibly remember. 200 test appearances, 463 one day internationals, ,15,000 test runs, 18,000 ODI runs, 51 test centuries, 49 ODI centuries, an average of 53.79 in test cricket and 44.58 in ODI cricket. Cricket has had several great players in the past – W.G.Grace, Don Bradman, Gary Sobers. But cricket has never seen such a player.
Known all over the world as ‘The Little Master’, Tendulkar’s incredible story is not his alone. It is the story of India. India was a completely different nation in the early years of Sachin Tendulkar’s two and half decade long career. When he started playing for India, India was still a country stuck in the past, following economic policies inspired by Fabian Socialism, and instead of creating a “Welfare State” that the founders of the Indian Constitution had envisaged, India was a failed country with a floundering economy, non-existent industry and medieval technology. The people of the country were overwhelmingly poor, with a narrow elite ruling over them, and suffered from an utter lack of confidence, especially when dealing with the outside world.
But as Tendulkar’s career progressed, India changed. The Indian economy was opened up in 1991 and the exorbitant duties on foreign goods, the strangle hold of the State over the industry, the system of bureaucratic licenses, controls and permissions, which had held the country back from fulfilling its potential, were abolished. India changed.
And while changing, India was watching Sachin Tendulkar play cricket. Day in and day out, match after match, series after series, tournament after tournament – cries of “Sach-in, Sach-in” could be heard in the jam packed cricket stadiums all across the country. 1.25 billion people, divided by a lot of things, but united by the game they loved and by one man. The man they call ‘God’. Sachin Tendulkar.
India of today is very different. The people are rich, brash, arrogant and highly aggressive, especially the young. Million dollar parties in farm houses, flashy cars, smartphones, lavish weddings, six-figure starting salaries – a lot of Indians have become extremely rich over the years since Sachin made his debut for the country over two and a half decades ago. This is very noticeable in world cricket, which is completely dominated by Indian money and ruled over by an iron grip by India’s cricket administrative body, the much feared, but not much loved, BCCI – who get exactly what they wish for, and there is nothing anybody can do about it. The Indian Premier League, with its muti-million dollar salaries has reduced Test cricket to a joke, with players from many countries more worried about their performances for their IPL club than for their own national teams – because that is where they make all their money.
Sachin Tendaulkar – The man, the player, the living legend
India has changed. The game of cricket has changed. But the one man who symbolizes it all, who probably started it all, is today in blissful retirement. There are already other claimants to his position as India’s favorite son. The young, brash, arrogant, highly talented and very capable Virat Kohli, symbolizes the post-Tendulkar generation, not just in Indian cricket, but for the country as a whole. But there will always be one man who started it all, who changed it all, who is loved by all. The man they call, ‘The Little Master’. Also referred to by some as ‘God’.
