Sachin Tendulkar's 200: Little Master, Little Legend and now, simply, God

Some people criticize the Indian mainstream media for being too effusive. When it talks of cultural rapprochement with Pakistan, the phrases used evoke Urdu poetry laced with tears and roses. When a Bollywood star rolls down the window of his air-conditioned vanity van to discard a tea bag, it gets Page Three status and a cheesy picture.

There's no such thing as overdoing it when it comes to cricket and Bollywood -- the two themes that allow precious else to see the light of day, culturally speaking. 

So when Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who will turn 37 in April and who has already amassed both the highest number of runs and the most centuries in Test and one-day matches in the world, when he scored the first ever double century (200 runs) in a one-day international game against South Africa in Gwalior yesterday, India fell to its knees, tongue-tied in worship. 

This record was considered unreachable. 

"Immortal at 200", read the banner headline at the Times of India.

"Who else has 93 international hundreds, who else has more than 14,000 ODI runs, who else has more than 17,000 Test runs? Nobody. I would really like to bend down and touch his feet. If somebody is at that pedestal, I would like to do that," former Indian cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar, a legend in his own right, told CNN-IBN.

But the headline that broke all boundaries in praise of a countryman, suprisingly came from one of the more austere national newspapers, The Indian Express.

"God!" read their one-word front page spread.

Now even Mahatma "Great Soul" Gandhi has nothing on the 5-foot tall, middle-aged cricketer from Mumbai with a girly voice who deservedly acheived godhead today.

Who wants to be a billionaire-before-40 when you can just be god? Ah, but for that you need talent. And god gives that out.

So you see, it's all very fitting.