Some people do not believe in springing any surprise. For them the only route to success is hard work and determination. Not everybody has the charisma but Rahul Dravid has proved that one can still steal the show through dedication, not only in cricket but also in other things in life.
Much has been written about Rahul Dravid as a cricketer. Someone with a track record as enviable as Dravid's deserves such a standing ovation on his exit from the glamorous world of cricket. The glamour though, never lured him from the gritty determination that he nurtured all his life. Such was his dedication for cricket that, as a fellow cricketer says, Dravid would be seen shadow-playing a faulty shot that got him out even in the dining room.
The man who literally built his innings putting one brick after another with acute precision and purpose never allowed his emotions to reign in over rationality. In his long cricketing career, anybody has hardly seen Dravid burst into the level of emotions that doesn't measure up to his neatly organised and disciplined character.
In a world dominated by superficiality and pomp, Dravid was modest, meticulous and detailed not only in his thinking and actions in the field but also outside. The Bradman Oration, first by any cricketer from outside Australia, that he delivered in 2011, is a testimony to the depth of his knowledge and understanding that transcends beyond the world of cricket.
A well known cricket correspondent once told me that books were an essential part of Dravid's luggage, on trips both in India and abroad, and he would use them to keep himself focused ahead of any match.
I came across him only once in 2000, when he was probably the vice captain of the Indian side and was playing English county cricket for Kent. While travelling in the District Line of the London Underground, I soon discovered that none other than Dravid was my co-passenger, sitting literally opposite to me. Realising that I was watching him, arguably one of the most confident batsmen of his time, who faced many great bowlers with straight bat, looked utterly embarassed that someone has noticed him in a London train. On our way out of the Temple tube station, when I wished him, saying, "Hi Rahul", the shy person in him couldn't offer anything more than an unassuming and nervous smile.
For him the fame attached to being a worldclass cricketer was never bigger than the game itself. Dravid not only epitomised dedication and determination, but was also known for his decency and dignity. With his retirement, the world of cricket will miss a gentleman cricketer who never believed in any short cut to success and had the rare ability of thinking his way through both on and off the field.
All comments are personal. Tirthankar.Bandyopadhyay.Blog@gmail.com
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