Sachin Tendulkar is known by many names – the greatest batsman ever, the most well behaved cricketer and also as one of the richest athletes to have graced the game of cricket. However, not many know that for the Master Blaster, also known affectionately as Tendlya among his childhood friends, Sachin has been donating to charitable concerns for a long time. Very recently he has donated INR 10 lakh to Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital. The main purpose behind providing the said amount, donated along with his wife Anjali, was to support the cause of generating awareness regarding heart diseases suffered by children.
The living legend has also started the Little Hearts Marathon that is expected to play a similar role. The marathon is supposed to take place on February 9. The well-known Siddhivinayak Temple will serve as the starting point and the race shall end at Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital. Sachin has also expressed a sense of honor at being able to aid a beneficial program that has been started by Dr. Yeshwant Ambedkar, who serves as the medical director at the hospital and is also Anjali Tendulkar’s mentor of sorts. Sachin has, in fact, equated the role of Dr. Ambedkar in guiding Anjali to become a pediatrician to the role played by Ramakant Achrekar in his cricketing career.
It is expected that the amount donated by Tendulkar will be used to set up a ventilator at the Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital. In fact, this is not the only charitable activity that the Little Master has been involved in, of late. He also supports, on a yearly basis, around 200 economically backward kids through a Mumbai based NGO named Apnalaya. Annabel Mehta, Sachin’s mother-in-law, is also associated with this charity. Sachin has also used social media for charitable purposes.
He recently requested financial assistance for an organization against cancer named Crusade against Cancer Foundation on Twitter and was able to generate INR 1.025 crore this way. He was also present for 9 hours on a program named Support My School Telethon. The program, a joint initiative of NDTV and Coca Cola, took place on September 18, 2011 and lasted for 12 hours. The program was able to generate INR 7 crore, which was 2 crore more than the intended target. The main purpose of the event was to generate money for creating basic facilities in schools like toilets for girls and it was supposed to benefit 140 government schools in India.
The humility and values of Sachin also make him an ideal life skills coach and an inspirational speaker. Very recently he appeared at a program on Star Sports named Heroes where he interacted with his young fans and stated the necessity of having heroes but still following one’s own heart, of setting an example. The importance of celebrities like Sachin, Amir Khan and MS Dhoni lies in the fact that when they speak of important and critical issues ailing the nation people are motivated to act on the same.
In fact, Amir Khan, through Satyamev Jayate, has been able to shed light and generate consciousness about critical issues and MS Dhoni has previously supported ‘Save The Tiger’ initiative and in association with former Indian footballer Baichung Bhutia, has started a project for young soccer players in his home state Jharkhand. One can only hope that these stars have this emotion of giving something back to the community that created them and thus help India get back on its feet.
Read More about Sachin Tendulkar:
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Playing It My Way Book Review: Sachin Tendulkar’s Autobiography
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Sachin Tendulkar against fast bowling
Sachin Tendulkar’s Cricketing Journey
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Sachin Tendulkar Records
Childhood of Sachin Tendulkar
Journey of Sachin Tendulkar
