Sachin and the 'dog' mentality

A very common notion that the entire 1.2 billion population of India shares with pride is 

"Cricket is my religion and Sachin is my GOD" 

Suddenly some chap in the southern most tip of Africa shows his dyslexic skill when he appears before the media and says, "Sachin is my DOG!" 

(Courtesy: Internet)

The South African Cricket team Bowling coach Vincent Barnes, has reportedly admitted before the media that he's missing Sachin - his dog that is, and not the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, after whom he named the canine. Barnes also made it clear that he is one of the most ardent fan of Sachin (Tendulkar). He has held the post of a bowling coach for half a decade now. The most funny thing about this news, according to me, is the question, whether this is even a news in the first place. A major Indian daily put it on their front page and the whimsical media, both electronic and print, followed suit. As expected, the Indians were hurt. Some call it as a sheer disrespect, some even point a racist angle to it and many feel that its a mind game to pluck the master blasters wicket in the coming  India-SA world cup match.

Relax guys! One thing that makes me happy about this 'news' is the fact that these westerners do love their pets more than their wives sometimes. They will invest huge amount of money for maintaining their pets especially dogs. In West, pets have their own rights just like we humans do. We, as Indians, can only think of a stray who gets kicked and stoned every other day, when the word 'dog' comes in our mind and understandably so many felt that this was a matter of abuse and disrespect for the little master. But as a die-hard Sachin fan myself, I am pretty much sure that Sachin, himself would have just laughed over this and took it sportingly. 

(Courtesy: Hindustan times)

Pets are a symbol of love, comfort and compassion. People need to understand that it should be a matter of pride for us when Sachin gets symbolised for love. There is no need to get cynical over this. Sadly so, the Indian press and media are the ones who have gone to the 'dogs'. They are just there to build a mountain out of a molehill. They cash in on our Indian mindset which is always hungry for some spicy news. Journalism has surely gone for a toss. The electronic media has become a joke and now the print media is following suit. They are responsible for instigating a negative mindset in the people. The fact that the guy is himself admitting this in front of the so-called media and that too in India, certainly points to the fact that he has no malice against Sachin. Its just another case of 'Cultural difference.' We as Indians need to be more mature and see through these gimmicks and think rationally before coming to a hasty conclusion.

So lets put this aside. Let us not behave like immatures and just accept the idea that Vincent must have named his DOG as Sachin, so that he could feel even more closer to our GOD!