Woman of Letters: Master Blaster!

Dear Sachin Tendulkar,

I write to you to tell you how very delighted I, along with millions of others, are that you are going to be one of India's goodwill ambassadors for the Rio Olympics 2016 in August.

But it is, perhaps, not for the obvious reasons that most subscribe to, that I delight.

Of course, your status as the pre-eminent sportsmen in India will, as IOA Secretary General Rajiv Mehta said: "help in building up a sporting culture in this country," but also because as a contemporary icon, your life serves as a blueprint for what our country can, and should, be like few others.

I do not say this lightly, Mr Tendulkar. I mean this literally.

If there are qualities that India needs to imbibe, values it needs to embrace, ethics it needs to adopt, there are few today who are better examples than you (And of course, there will be groans and eyeballs rolled among many when they hear this remark. We are, after all, an overly sceptical and cynical lot. The rumble about this or that hiccup in your life will surface for the "What about his... ?" and the "Did you know about…" among us who thrive on such things).

They will have their say mostly on social media and it might enrage your supporters and they too will respond with passion and this faux cause celebre, this ersatz 'issue' may even become a nice, fun little trending topic that will get us all excited and distracted from what we should be paying very urgent and full attention to: how do we live our lives with grace and fulfilment: how do we achieve our dreams: how to handle success if it comes with responsibility and intelligence?

Mr Tendulkar, your life teaches us how to be a part of this world, how to bloom like a lotus even in the mire and dirt, how to focus on that which is important and not waste time on trivialities and how to live with grace and the least amount of animosity among people. It demonstrates how easy it can be to stay away from useless controversies, speak little but speak sense, use one's talent to make money and earn fame but also use it as a platform for worthy causes and issues.

This is what I, who knows next to nothing about cricket, understand and read through your appointment to this position. For me, there are many parables to be drawn from your life that could well serve as those of mythological kings and queens and gods of yore: A middle class boy born to an unknown, but cultured family, whose talent is spotted by an older savant and nurtured selflessly by his loving brother, through luck and grace and hardwork achieves astonishing success, goes on to win the hand of the fairest maiden in the land and is an adored and celebrated hero for a long, long time.

A hero honoured with money and fame and worldly success, who in this age of instant access and 24x7 scrutiny somehow manages to hold on to his values of decency, responsibility, humility and propriety and is not seen to have feet of clay.

There are only very few individuals as famous, successful and iconic as you are Mr Tendulkar, who have been able to manage their success with such grace and intelligence that they have avoided success' pitfalls. From the world of entertainment, which I am more familiar with, I can think of Oprah Winfrey, Adele and Meryl Streep who fit into this category.

Almost no scandals, no public backlash, no skidding off-track; just a living of life with an awareness of how to live it gracefully and with integrity in spite of one's fame and entitlement so that your persona evokes love and respect and not hate and envy.

So there you go Mr Tendulkar. I hope besides doing all that you will most certainly do to encourage our country into sports (and we need so much encouragement at this moment and sports might as well be
the metaphor that transforms India), I hope people will also see you as an emblem of all India could and should be.

Lastly, I am so sorry I'm not a cricket lover and have never watched an entire match on TV or at a stadium through. But then I've watched life, Mr Tendulkar and you're a Master in it too!

Yours sincerely, etc
malavikasmumbai@gmail.com
(The columnist believes in the art of writing letters)