Sachin Tendulkar & his new innings? Good, Bad, Sad?

So here it is – Sachin Tendulkar starts a new innings! Yes on 26^th April, 2012 all India got a shocking surprise when Sachin got his nomination as a member of Indian Parliament. His newest tag of an illustrious cricketing career is “MP” – Member of Parliament. Is it good, bad or just sad?

While the Government of India will take this as a huge bonus to their ‘fast falling’ or ‘already fallen’ ratings, not sure how many in public has accepted Sachin’s linkage to the UPA Government with a record of highest scams in Indian history of governance in the last few years. In several ways many like us are now so disillusioned, disenchanted with Indian politics that we have just given up “hope”. Only recently there was a huge hue and cry amongst the Parliamentarians when another ‘anti corruption’ activist Anna Hazare proclaimed the Indian Parliamentarians as a bunch of thieves, rapists and what not. Honestly, that’s the view of millions of Indians now.

So why did Sachin take this plunge? Sachin is very much like Kapil Dev, not a great speaker in public, not a great presenter also. Sachin, though is very much unlike some other Indian cricketing greats like Sunny Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Ravi Shastri who are super speakers, great live presenters. They have moved on in their career in broadcasting & administration extremely well thanks to their speaking skills. So will the case be with Rahul Dravid, another super speaker, who retired just recently. Sachin is nowhere near their class in this non-cricketing genre for sure. So did he really need a political career when we are all groping to find several answers to Indian politics?

The country loves Sachin and wouldn’t want his newest plunge to end in a disaster like another Indian Superstar of the Century Amitabh Bachchan. Amitabh’s political career ended in a bitter most disappointment so much so that that the Superstar avoids the word politics in every way now. It’s with great difficulty that the Superstar was able to resurrect his acting career after giving up politics.

So does entry into politics give Sachin a life beyond cricket? May be yes. Only time will tell. But here’s wishing him good luck!