Tendulkar and the cult of deification
Ajaz Ashraf, in the Times of India's Crest, says that the debate over whether Sachin Tendulkar should retire provides a perspective into the collective Indian psyche
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Ajaz Ashraf, in the Times of India's Crest, says that the debate over whether Sachin Tendulkar should retire provides a perspective into the collective Indian psyche.
Place the national psychology and Tendulkar's breathtaking talent against the backdrop of political ambience of the 1980s, in which he made his debut, and you will understand why he was turned into a national icon. The 1980s was the decade of pessimism.
In this gloomy scenario Tendulkar became the symbol of national unity, his majestic wielding of the bat papering, however ephemerally, over all social schisms... We made him a national icon because of our own compulsions, and laid out different yardsticks for him.