Envy of Sachin getting all the limelight!

         One of the most talked about achievements of 2009 is Sachin Tendulkar reaching his personal landmark of playing for 20 years. He was showered with wishes and prizes and understandably news coverage by people of India as well as cricket loving world. There are a few articles that mushroomed in the magazines regarding how Sachin's achievements were useless and personal and did not deserve the "attention" it got. I was quite frankly shocked to read the ignorant comments made by these Sachin-haters. I like Sachin and many other cricketers like Wasim Akram for their game and the entertainment they provide.
         One of the biggest negative comments I read was how has he helped the poor people of India with his game. I wonder if the people, who say this have any basic education of economics or they are still in 10th grade. I am not saying that Sachin in perfect. He cannot be...he is human....even Mahatma Gandhi was not perfect. I did not like what Saching did back when he tried to evade taxes of gifted Ferrari.
Let me list down some direct and indirect factors of what Sachin's achievement got India.

1. 20 years of happiness of watching cricket and proudly winning against our arch rivals Pakistan and Australia.-  The people who do not watch cricket, this comment carries no value (you don't know what you missed out on)
   
2. Because of Sachin's prolific game, every small kid in small nooks of India wanted a bat with MRF logo on it and wanted to play for India. Sachin has been one of the main catalyst in bringing together the entire nation for one good cause- National Integrity. (People who hate Sachin have no background is bringing together the nation......I am saying nation not one random community of a nation)
3. The kids inspired by Sachin started going to coaching camps which were opened by some of the former Ranji players who could not make to the National team and feared of dying hungry. This definitely provided them a great source of income. 
4. The ground staff- like the gardener who prepares the pitch, people who clean and maintain these facilities are the jobs created solely because of these camps.......(Doesn't this credit go partially to Sachin?)
5. The business infrastructure that goes around with the development of a cricket stadium includes the hotels, restaurants and even small vendors making their good day sells on the match days. Where would all that come from if there is nothing great to see in that stadium?
   

Now, there are some people who would say, " what a bull crap...wouldn't this all have happened if there was no Sachin?". For this I have a counter question as an answer " We have amazing players like Dhanraj Pilley in our national game-Hockey. Why don't you see kids in Mumbai or any other cities walking around with Hockey sticks on playground, why do majority of people in India still don't know the name of even the captain of our hockey or soccor team?" .....I am not saying this to look down upon Hockey or Soccor, but frankly, we are still to see that star in both the games who can bring together India to support them in those games equally as in Cricket.

All I am saying is what problem anyone can have if people want to give that respect to a person who has given them some moments of happiness in their life. We get 1000 people walking fora  dead politician who has killed 10 people in his career, why not have 1 billion people to celebrate the entertainer of two decades for us- team India!