Sachin is God??

Date: April 24th-God’s birthday. As I began penning my thoughts these were the first lines that came to my mind on that holy day-Is Sachin’s portrayal of God by his fanatics (myself included) justified or is this just fanaticism? Most of my friends ask me this-“Are you mad? How can you call someone, who just plays a game to entertain, “God”? You are no different from the people who stand before theatres on Fridays and perform “milk abhishekams” to film stars when that milk could have fed ten children.” It was then I began thinking about whether I too was just a fanatic or is there a way to justify my stance on Sachin.

Sachin Tendulkar is GOD ?

Date: April 24th-God’s birthday. As I began penning my thoughts these were the first lines that came to my mind on that holy day-Is Sachin’s portrayal of God by his fanatics (myself included) justified or is this just fanaticism? Most of my friends ask me this-“Are you mad? How can you call someone, who just plays a game to entertain, “God”? You are no different from the people who stand before theatres on Fridays and perform “milk abhishekams” to film stars when that milk could have fed ten children.” It was then I began thinking about whether I too was just a fanatic or is there a way to justify my stance on Sachin.Now I will go about justifying my stance on this statement by showing how some characteristics associated with God can be seen in Sachin. (In the following arguments “we” is a general word used to denote all those who share my view about Sachin)Sachin the Almighty power in cricket- “If cricket is religion Sachin is God”-a slogan we see in every match. If we consider cricket as a religion then I am sure Sachin is the Almighty power as he can do anything with a bat in his hand. Any situation India might be in if he is at the crease then our hopes are intact which exactly proves my point-we believe he can achieve miracles. And isn’t God supposed to be capable of miracles?Sachin is omnipotent-present everywhere. Whenever we see a match if Sachin is playing our minds are desperate to catch a glimpse of him whether he is in slips or turning his arm over with his infectious enthusiasm. This desperation leads to our eyes seeing him everywhere. Sample this-if Ponting plays a cover drive immediately our mind’s eye sees Sachin hitting the same shot and we comment, “This shot-Sachin semmayaa aaduvaan da.” We sometimes even contrive to see Sachin’s influence in every decision Dhoni makes whether or not that is true.God is someone we turn to when we are in difficulty. When we pray to Him we hope to find some solace for our minds. This is a contentious argument but still this is how I feel Sachin fits into this context. Whenever I feel depressed a DVD of Sachin’s innings manages to console my mind and I think this might be true for some you as well. You might say that DVD just diverts my attention from the problem but isn’t that what prayer to God also does? It calms your mind so that you can do what needs to be done to solve the problem.God exists within us. In the same way fans of Sachin feel the same joys and sorrows as Sachin. Whenever he hits a century we feel at least the same amount of joy as he does, we jump, celebrate as if we ourselves have hit one. When he gets a bad decision even if Sachin doesn’t show dissent we do. When Sachin’s father died the nation cried with him. We feel and experience everything Sachin experiences. So we have within ourselves at least a part of Him.God is eternal. This is the easiest argument to justify. Long after the sun sets on his career he will stay on in our memories. The paddle sweep, the upper cut, the leg glance, the twin Sharjah tons, the Akthar demolition, the Chennai test second innings ton and his subsequent leap into Yuvraj’s arms (and the 2011 World Cup in his hands)-these are memories which will linger in our hearts for eternity.Considering all the above arguments for an atheist Sachin may just be an extraordinary talent. For the rest of us Sachin is God. And that list will include me no matter how much others try to convince me otherwise.