Hi Guys,

Twenty years ago a teenager donned the cricketing gloves to represent his country against the arch rivals. He continues to represent his country till date and no one knows till when he will keep doing the same. Yes, he is none other than Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. He is the most accomplished batsman in both forms of the game (oops... sorry, I don't consider T20 as any format). He has hoards of world records to his name. He has played 436 ODI's and scored 17,178 runs, played 159 tests and scored 12,778 runs. He has 154 wickets in ODI's and 44 wickets in tests.
Arguably, he is considered as a purest batsman ever to have played the game. He has no signature shots of his own because he is strong on both sides of the wicket and can play any shot at will.In other words he is a rare genius. The ultimate compliment he got was from Sir Don Bradman when he confided to his wife that Sachin reminded him of himself.
He has carried the burden of hopes of a billion people for the past two decades. Whenever he goes to bat there are expectations and more often than not he performs and delights his fans. He has earned the respect of all people around the world. There is no stadium where he does not get a standing ovation.
But , the best part of Sachin is the way he carries himself. He has not been embroiled in any major controversy till date. He is the one unchanging factor of the dressing room from the past two decades. He gels very well with everybody. He is a very modest and down to earth human and that's what makes him so special. He has been awarded with Khel Ratna, Padma shri,Arjuna Award and more recently Padma Vibhushan in 2008.
Media, Celebrities and of course fans are pouring in their wishes for the Little Master. I am sure that he deserves all of those, but on a larger perspective all of us have to understand that Cricket is just a game and Sachin is a pure batting genius. He has played the game very well and earned his share of name and fame for himself and his country. In my personal opinion, we always give too much importance to all the celebrities (cricketers & film stars). I partly blame the media for this. We should appreciate their achievement to a certain extent and should stop there. We have better things to do than keep track of these celebrities. We have a long long way to go in terms of development. Each of us may not be a genius, but all of us have certain responsibilities towards our family and country. Each of us should concentrate on that aspect and then I can surely say that we are on the right path.

Signing off for now,
Krishna