Letter to the Editor
Bharat Ratna and
Tendulkar
Kudos
to Sachin Tendulkar on being conferred the highest civilian award of the
country-Bharat Ratna. Tendulkar has created a plethora of records and he has added
two more records in his kitty i.e.; the first sportsperson to win the Bharat
Ratna and the youngest person to win the Bharat Ratna. Tendulkar richly
deserves the award in view of his incredible exploits in the cricket field. While
the records are there to be broken, many of the records made by the little
genius appears to be insurmountable or unsurpassable as even the nearest
contestant is far away from his records. Despite all these enviable
achievements, he remained simple and humble and kept himself aloof from all the
controversies. He was a role model for budding cricketers and a friend,
philosopher and guide to his teammates
However,
the timing of the announcement of the award was unscheduled and unprecedented. Whether
it was motivated by Tendulkar’s emotional retirement from first class cricket
or for converting the wide spread public sentiments generated throughout the
length and breadth of the country to political advantage will remain a
debatable point. In order to forestall any murmuring or criticism, Government
conferred the award to an eminent scientist also.
Having
won the highest award at the younger age, though at the end of his career, it
is hoped that he will devote his entire life for the service of the nation.
Since there is no dearth of people to sponsor and promote cricket, it is
suggested that Tendulkar may channel his resources for the development of other
sports, mainly Olympic events. Legendry athlete PT Usha also expressed similar
opinion. The second largest populated country of the world returns from
Olympics with peanuts making a mockery of sports. This is not due to dearth of
sports talent in the country, but due to apathy and callous attitude of our
sports authorities in unearthing, nurturing, promoting and developing talent. Being
a sports icon, Tendulkar can play a pivotal role in creating world class
sportspersons and m make India a force to reckon with in international sports,
emulating our great neighbor China. This will reinforce national integration
thereby strengthening the unity and integrity of a nation otherwise divided by
cast, creed, region, religion, language etc. I am eagerly dreaming for a day
when somebody break Tendulkar’s record of
being the youngest Indian to win the Bharat Ratna by conquering the citadels of glory in an
Olympics within a period of say 10 years reminiscensing P T Usha’s great exploits at 1986 Asian games.
E M Adithyan
23rd November 2013
