For the Respect of the Game and the Man.

For me the name, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, brings back a lot of memories. If today I am sad, its not because I follow cricket like its my religion but because there are just too many memories associated with that name. Might it be the memory of picking my bothers bat up and pretending to hit a sixer (yes, I remember doing that on numerous occasions as a kid) or begging my brother to let me play with him and his friends or the memory of a huge poster of Sachin Tendulkar between the twin beds in the room that I shared with my brother.

So today is an emotional day for most of the Indians. Entire media, social media, everything is filled with updates about Sachin Tendulkar retiring and log on to just about any site and you will see the grief of people. Admist all the grief, there are idiots and absolutely thankless creatures who have statuses like "Enough with the Sachin Updates Already" or "Yes, fine he retired. The cricket fanatics can shut up now.". Some even went to the limit of wondering whether or not Sachin deserves a Bharat Ratna. This post is for all those people and I am telling you if I hear you say anything like that again, I will punch you in the face.

I am not a cricket fanatic. I don't follow i.. Heck, I don't even know the names of all the 11 players in the Indian team currently. I just follow it once every 4 years during the World Cup or if any India-Pak series is on. But sure as f*ck, I am sad about Sachin retiring. I have heard Sachin's name from as long as I can remember. The fact that I didn't follow cricket did not stop me from being glued to the TV. every time Sachin Tendulkae set his foot on the field to play. And here are the reasons why you should be thankful that he played for India, sad that he retired and most of all, shut the hell up.

1) He was an amazing Sports person.
Cricketers came and went but he played for the last 24 years. He has played with THREE different generation of cricketers and if you cannot identify with Sachin, then you should be sad about the fact that a great sports person who will be an inspiration for the aspiring cricketers in the generations to come has retired.

2) His achievements.
If I started listing his achievements, that list will be longer than this post. His list of achievements do not end. So by saying "He has retired. No big deal" you are just disrespecting the person who has been regarded as one of the best sports person in the field of cricket.

3) 24 years of a career.
Do you even know how long twenty four years is? I mean don't you feel a little sad for a person whose cricket career outdoes your age? You all have heard about Sachin from the day you were born and you all have had your hopes on him when India was losing. So really people, if you aren't feeling sad, at least don't try to act cool by posting crap like that. It does not make you cool but just petty in the eyes of millions of Indians.

4) He is one of us.
One of the reasons why everyone is going crazy and why I want to kick all the idiots who are acting like its no big deal is because Sachin Tendulkar is one of us. This one man has united most of India and made us cry with his speech. Its not some firang footballer or tennis player over whom we are crying. We are crying over the retirement of a great player who represented India and was respected by everybody internationally. We identify with him and we identify cricket with him. He deserves all the #ThankYouSachin posts and the crazyness that has taken over the media.

5) He is an amazing person.
You do not need to know people personally to now whether or not a celeb is a nice human being or not. So many times, Sachin started walking away from the pitch before the umpire gave his decision. Not once did he stay on the pitch to fight against a wrong decision. You can see just how genuine he is and you can see just how humble he is every time he gets an award. So respect him for the person he is.

No body HAS to be sad about Tendulkar's retirement. You aren't obligated to to put up a status message either. If you aren't a sports person, you aren't even asked to understand the gravity that this one name, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, holds but yes, maybe you should just keep shut and not log into your twitter and facebook accounts if it annoys you so much. Face it, you might not have been in love with cricket or Sachin Tendulkar or you might not even care about any bit of it but every time when India was losing, you all have had your hopes set on this man and hoped that he will save our ass and make us win. The respect that he is getting is justified. He deserves every little bit of it. So don't ask us to stop already.

#ThankYouSachin