The Sachin generation
A round-up of tributes and comments on Tendulkar's retirement
18-Nov-2013
In his press conference a day after retiring, Tendulkar answered a number of questions on his decision, his career, family and the future. Watch the full video here.
We also look at the reactions and comments in the newspapers two days after his retirement.
In the Asian Age, Ashok Malik writes that to the generation that came of age in the early '90s, Sachin's retirement was a reminder of their own mortality, of how their youth was not just long over but now had to be accepted as over.
... the economic downturn and self-questioning of the past two odd years has left this generation searching for answers and wondering if the current spate of bad news is only a temporary blip. Is there another, splendid boom for India and its economy and people that is just waiting to happen -- or is the good news over for the conceivable working lifetime of this Sachin Generation? There are no easy answers -- no predictions, only speculation -- but it makes Tendulkar's going away that much more momentous: he is a memory of the good times that have gone. He has left us poorer in more ways than one -- ending an illustrious career and ending for many of his contemporaries the hope of a lengthened youth.
In the Hindu, Arghya Sengupta, a research director for legal policy, writes that when Sachin exited the Wankhede Stadium after his knock of 74 for and Virat Kohli, walked in, the symbolism was obvious.
Kohli, the new youth icon, like Sachin was in my growing up years, is supremely talented. But unlike Sachin, he lets the world know that. He abuses, irrespective of whether he is happy or sad, shows little respect for the opposition, wears his Indianness on his sleeve in a manner that suggests a woeful lack of understanding of what it means to be Indian. Or perhaps, a reflection of an understanding of what it means to be Indian today -- the India that in its quest to be accepted as a superpower seems to have lost its own identity, that is assertive on the world stage but quick to play victim, where nationalism means scoring brownie points against external enemies, crassly announcing one's presence on the world stage and expecting recognition at best, genuflection at worst. This is the India we live in, where the most popular leader advocates a muscle-flexing nationalism that is anathema to our Constitution and our ethos.
The Indian Express digs through its archives to see what else made news when Sachin dominated the front-page headlines during his career.
Aussie bowlers feel impotent; Viagra makes headlines
April 22, 1998. Sachin Tendulkar blitzes 143 against Australia to take India into the final of the Coca-Cola Cup in Sharjah. It's sometimes described by Indian cricket fans as the Desert Storm. Army-style lingo makes an appearance on the front pages of that day's newspaper as well. "If we were in the military, I think we would call in and say our postion is being overrun," James B. Regan is quoted as saying. Regan isn't an Australian referring to Tendulkar's knock. He is the head of Georgetown University's Erectile Dysfunction Treatment Program and he is commenting on the number of people hoping to get a prescription for Viagra, which has just been released in the USA.
In the same paper, author Amitava Kumar writes that every Indian has a private Sachin.
A Sachin on whom we project our desires, our fears, our fantasies. When I heard on TV that he had asked for a ramp to be built at the stadium so that his mother's wheelchair could be brought, I thought he was the son I wanted to be.
In the New York Times, Vaibhav Vats writes that when Indians wake up this week, the world will feel an altogether prosaic place. India will have to find newer ways to live.
In the Economic Times, Mukul Kesavan dreams up the Sachin biopic.
On ESPNcricinfo, Jonathan Wilson writes that the best retirements require struggle, one last victory over the forces of entropy, the century made from unpromising beginnings through teary eyes.