Ad icons as role models will dwarf the nation

Wednesday November 22 2006 00:00 IST 
 
S Gurumurthy

On the Children's Day at New Delhi, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh exhorted a gathering of destitute,

orphaned, abused and physically challenged children to
look up to Sachin Tendulkar and Sania Mirza as models.
The choice of a role model is a serious issue and
calls for comment. But here, even if one feels like

commenting on the Prime Minister, it is not a pleasant
task because it involves Tendulkar, the most admired
icon of the most popular game in India.

Nevertheless, a comment is needed, even if doing so
risks unpopularity, as when a Prime Minister makes the

choice, he sets the precedent for the nation.
Manmohan's choice has raised an important question:
Who should be the ideal role models for Indian
children? The issue here is not Tendulkar or Sania or
their undeniable popularity. The question simply is:

On what norms a nation chooses its role models?

Nations need heroes. A nation is lifted or dwarfed by
the heroes it is excited about. The enslaved India
looked up to heroes who ignited a movement to free

India from foreign domination. India was led by a Guru
Gobind Singh, Shivaji, Vivekananda, Aurobindo, and
Gandhi to mention a few out of the hundreds of revered
heroes. They aroused India and India rose. But today

everyone is crying about the fall of free India. Has
that anything to do with free India's choice of
heroes? This is where the Prime Minister's choice
merits a comment. A caveat: The Prime Minister has
done nothing wrong. He has mentioned only the names

the media and the children will feel excited about.
But is that the basis for choosing heroes is precisely
the issue.

Sachin Tendulkar is a great cricketer and undeniably a
national idol. His talents have won him great

popularity among millions of cricket fans.
Undoubtedly, he is a compelling role model for
children aspiring to emerge as cricketers. His
popularity has made him an ad icon. And so is Sania
Mirza, a great tennis prospect of India.


Their popularity is reflected in their ad assignments.
That also measures their success. This is the
Tendulkar-Sania paradigm. But there is another
paradigm, the less-known Gopichand paradigm. He is as

good in achievement as a Tendulkar or Sania, but in a
less known game. Gopichand is a badminton player, who
has won global laurels for India. What then is the
difference between Tendulkar paradigm and Gopichand

paradigm? The difference is this.

Gopichand refused to endorse cola ads when the cola
makers chased him with lucrative contracts. Reason: he
believed that colas harm children. He was a sports
idol, like Sachin Tendulkar, to admire, but more, an

ideal to follow. He is an ideal for the children for
he turned away a fortune for their cause. Gopichand is
thus an idol to admire and an ideal to follow.

In contrast, Tendulkar, a more popular idol, turned an

ad model to sell Pepsi to the children. While
Tendulkar has the right to do what he does, Gopichand
gave up that very right for a higher ideal. This
qualifies him and his like as an ideal role model.
Imagine the Prime Minister had mentioned Gopichand as

the ideal for the children!

This takes us to what should be the norm for choosing
ideal role models for our children and youth. The clue
lies in what kinds of role models have built this
nation. Look at whom Swami Vivekananda would hold out

as the ideals for our nation. He would declare a
Chatrapati Shivaji and a Guru Gobind Singh as role
models for Indian youth. He declared: ''O India!
Forget not the ideal of thy womanhood is Sita,
Savitri, Damayanti.'' A Mahatma Gandhi would commend

Rama as the ideal for young India to emulate. The
entire community of freedom fighters, whether it was a
Tilak or Gandhi, Rajaji or Nehruji looked to Swami
Vivekananda as inspiration for the freedom movement as

well as for their understanding of the identity of
modern India.

A Maharishi Aurobindo was a role model for millions
whose eyes were opened to the idea of India by his
nation-building writings. A Bhagat Singh and a

Chandrasekhar Azad inspired thousands of Indian youths
to plunge into the battle for national freedom.

A Mahatma Gandhi was the role model for millions and
millions of Indians, young and old. Yet he remains so

silently even today despite his name and legacy being
stolen by the Nehru clan by what in trade marks law is
known ''passing off''.

That's how great role models have shaped India during
freedom movement and a while even after freedom. But,

mere ad icons can never be ideal role models. Rarely
is a role model a star of today and even more rarely a
star of today is a role model. A nation that makes a
wrong choice of role models will dwarf its people. The

choice of ad icons as role models is sure to dwarf the
nation and its people.