Cricket fans will immediately recognize the name Sachin Tendulkar. Most of them would concede that he is one of the best cricketers of all time but among many Indians the admiration goes much further and he is venerated almost as a god, with even some Hindu temples being dedicated to him and some even referring to him as ‘god’.
Nowhere was this absurd hero worship more apparent than in this article sent to me by a friend. It turns out that Tendulkar had tweeted to British Airways about some complaint that he had about their service. The airline responded with a tweet consisting of an apology and a request for his full name and address so that they could look further into the matter.
This caused an uproar on Twitter with Indian fans being outraged that the airline did not know who Tendulkar was, saying things like “How dare you ask his full name you swines”.
The reactions to the tweet from Indians have bordered on the hysterical, with some people even going so far as to call upon Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call off his UK tour.
Tendulkar has since tweeted that British Airways had “expressed deep regret” and offered to look into his complaints about customer service.
He thanked Twitter users for their “love and support”.
British Airways is currently the top trend on Twitter in India, with even politicians like the former chief minister of Indian-administered Kashmir getting in on the act.
I am disappointed that Tendulkar praised his nutty fans and did not tell them to stop acting like idiots.
Apparently Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova was also pilloried in 2014 when she had the audacity to say that she did not know who Tendulkar was.
What would happen if they learned the number of people who don’t even know what cricket is?
I grew up a Tendulkar fan long before these idiots start worshiping him. I think Tendulkar poster is still there in my parents house. I start loosing on indian cricket after that 2000 scandal. As I grow up and become an adult, I am like, yah he is good cricketer, nothing more about him, particularly when he asked for indian gov to waive import taxes for his Ferrari gift, and Indian gov waived him the import taxes. But Supreme court intervened and made the waiver invalid.
I send gifts to my relative to india, they have to pay tons of money for even mediocre gifts, but he has audacity to as 0% waiver of the Ferrari gift and he got away with it for a while. That was the last time I was his ardent fan, He makes millions and millions, but won’t pay import taxes for his gift ? He ain’t no god, he just another ordinary celebrity. I still respect his as a cricketer, but just another ordinary in every day life.
And those indians who worship him as god are just bloated idiots, I would rather blame BBC for posting comments from high school kids and other few idiots on their news website. Shame on your BBC.
Wow, I’ve never seen half as much silliness here in Australia over Bradman, and he regularly tops the lists of best cricketers ever.
Utterly ludicrous. If entertainers were that important, everyone would know their names already. (Yes, athletes are entertainers.) Name Nobel Prize winners in the sciences or those who cure diseases, and most who fawn over celebrities would shrug their shoulders.
I’m glad it’s not Tendulkar himself who is freaking out, only his idolatrous fans. Kanye West would likely have his entourage beat up someone who said “Connie Who?” to his face. There are countless celebrities who have reached the “Do you know who I am?” phase of their egos.
Meanwhile, in other cricket news which I think & hope you find interesting :
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-15/australia-v-new-zealand-second-test-day-three-live-blog/6942380?section=sport
Gotta admit NZ / Aotearoa / The Kiwis are playing bloody well.
Although I’ll always cheer on the Aussies to win.
Tendulkar was certainly an amazing player fully deserving of huge respect -- and ditto Brian Lara. Kumar Sangakkara too.