INDIA’S Sachin Tendulkar has suffered back, hand, foot and elbow injuries over the past eight years -- mainly attributed to the wear and tear of constant play since he burst onto the international scene as a 16-year-old batting prodigy in 1989. After almost 18 years successfully managing the business of making runs and money like none before the avatar of batting shows little, if any, signs of slowing down and in spite of suffering many bad umpiring decisions over the years, he still enjoys the game and wants to play on as long as he can. “Cricket means a lot to me, I am batting brilliantly at the moment, even the thought of retirement has not crossed my mind,” Tendulkar said in a recent PTI interview. Modern India’s national icon and singular sporting symbol even today walks a tightrope -- his golden bat and shoulders have borne the super weight of expectation of a nation of a billion-plus, for close to 20 years and yet the head above has rarely lost sight of his awesome responsibility. No sportsperson (cricketer) carry such a burden every time they enter the arena of competition as this little guy, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (SRT). Not only of individual achievements alone, but of being able to live up to the hopes, dreams, desires, aspirations, request and expectations of a complex amalgam of a nation as India (Bharat Mata). In India, apart from stray individual feats, there are no sportsmen to lust after and so -- Tendulkar The Great becomes the ultimate Pied Piper, attracting peoples of all ages, castes, religion, cultures and beliefs. Sachin, 34, is a father of two children -- Sara 10 and Arjun 7 and is happily married to Dr. Anjali Mehta-Tendulkar for 12 years now. He has successfully managed to merge his public persona with his private life -- now a venerable general like the great Dronachar of the Hindu holy epic, The Mahabharata, Sachin still bats like a God! As a cricketer/player/right-handed master batsman, Tendulkar has already carved his name and niche as India’s greatest ever batsman. The likes of: Sir Donald Bradman, Sunil Gavaskar, Allan Donald, Martin Crowe, Barry Richards, Wasim Akram, Shane Warne and Rahul Dravid, have all placed him at the top of their all-time greatest batsmen list. There is still some distance for this little maestro to travel and until another comes along who India can regard as a true symbol of her own ability -- Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar or SRT must carry the mantle/baton -- plain and simple. Jai Hind!