At some point in the future, social psychologists will find a great deal to analyse in the epidemic of hero-worship that has broken out in India over the last few weeks. There's an urge to deification that quickly goes beyond just recognising qualities. Actually, this isn't just about cricket. Look at politics. There is practically no party left now in India which doesn't have a resident set of deities who are the fount of everything that is good for their followers.
It's interesting to note that there's a version of this attitude in almost every field where people depend on an expert. Curiously enough, even in investments. For example, there's a vast hagiography that has been created around Warren Buffett. The old man is a very successful investor and is widely said to be the greatest equities investor in the world. There are any number of books, websites and magazine articles that analyse what he has done and said, with the implication always being that somehow, it's something special that happens to any investment that is touched with blessed hands. If the blessed hands fail (as they surely can, in cricket or elsewhere), then the disappointment is all the greater.
In India's mutual fund industry, there's a version of this story being played. Given the state of drift that the equity markets have been in for half a decade now, there's no shortage of formerly high-flying funds and fund managers who were thought to be miracle workers once, and now are reviled as failures.
In practice, being a good investor involves talent but a great deal of method, process and an attitude of sticking to the principles. That's probably true everywhere. Sachin Tendulkar is being feted for his extraordinary talent but clearly, it's not talent alone that carries one for a quarter of a century.
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