Bharat Ratna & Tendulkar

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  

23^rd November 2013