Me the rebel, me the brash one, me the curt one, me the snooty one, me the one who will sound you off in your face, me the brat, me who prefers that things are black and white buy cialis tabs (grey is a shade I don’t like much), me in contradiction to my nature always supports the underdog, me for all my I don’t care a damn attitude – admires folks who are genuinely nice, simple, courteous, affable, polite and have no bad words to mince about anyone.
I married the nice guy, my best friends are the nicest blokes you will ever meet, my childhood idol has been the nice guy – Harsha Bhogle and all my cricketing life I’ve only admired the nice guy – you dear Rahul Dravid.
Lords ’96, I was hoping my then favourite cricketer would redeem himself but he was injured and you a 23- year old walked in at number 7. 20 runs into your innings my father and I were discussing if India had finally found her number 3 – that defence, that look, that impeccable judgement of your off-stump, that lovely square-cut but most of all that assurance in your batting. The assurance, the comfort of “Dravid is yet to bat, Dravid is still batting”, that assurance defined your entire career for me and the assurance was felt from the moment you stepped in to bat the first time. I rued you missing your century on debut, on making history with the other debutant centurion, but I did not brood over it for long – and you did not brood over it at all.
You went on to make many more – 36 of them if I’m not mistaken; you finally made up for that missed chance in 1996 by getting it in your last match at Lords in the final season of what had been a remarkable career – most players would be happy if they could achieve half of what you have.
On that day in ’96 at Lords – I had found my teenage hero, that day also marked the beginning of the innumerable arguments, endless debates and fights that would follow with friends – reasoning out why you deserved to be among the best in the business, on why you would be the key to India’s fortunes and the pivot around which the rest of the famed, naturally-gifted, talented batting line-up would evolve. 16 years on and I’m still debating and arguing on why you are among the best in the business – you who stands at #2 among the best test batsmen in the world.
I have mini-posters of you – from the Pepsi adverts you did in your early days – looking highly uncomfortable doing those funny antics. They are stuck to the inside of the door of my small cupboard – the one that stores my cricket collection over the years.I open that door every time I visit home – there are memories of teenage crushes and fandom, I need to revisit those to discover my lost self.
This poster of you adorned the huge softboard (that papa had put up on one of the walls in my room) for long. It was placed alongside a Calvin poster – he my favourite brat, and you my favourite nice guy.
In the days of expensive internet and mobile (no mobile internet) my cricket memories are bound together by my paper collection – magazines & paper cuttings. The key moments in my cricketing fandom are stocked up there.
I dug up the archives today –
The first interview in Sportstar after the successful England tour ‘96,
The tons in 2 innings of the same test NZ ’99
The Kolkata ‘01 win – yes that jump in the air,
The Adelaide ‘03 raising of the bat, arms and cap,
The Rawalpindi double in ’04 and first series victory in Pak
The two chases with Kaif to seal the ODI series Vs Pak 04
Then there are the innumerable scorecards in newspapers from the 90s – the ones where you were on that frustrating run of getting scores of 80s and 90s but no 100s until you got your first 100 in Johannesburg 1996.
I don’t know why I don’t have the cuttings from some of my favourite moments in your cricketing life before 2004 (my collections end there – then internet took over). The Headingley 148, the Oval double – I had a bet with my friends India would not lose the ‘02 series, you ensured I won, that 6 off Donald – I wanted to come down and abuse Donald for you but you taught me the better answer, the Taunton 145 – those 3 fours you struck in the 5th over after the fall of the first wicket in the first over – those are etched in memory forever. My engineering exams were on and my luck was good that India’s matches were on the off-days between papers, I did well in those semesters despite the distraction of watching you bat beautifully in that World Cup.
Over the years I’ve watched you – the grim look, the constant struggle, the art of defiance, the ability to play on the worst of the pitches in the worst of the conditions and still succeed. My own personal struggles started a year after your debut. Often when I felt totally beaten up and gutted by life, I sought some inspiration from your battles on the field. Your willingness and selflessness to fit into any role for the team – opening, batting down the order, even wicket-keeping, your ability to adapt – to not let the ego get the better of the ability to focus. You are the reason for my belief that with a little bit of talent accompanied by tons of hardwork and determination – one can compete at the highest levels in one’s field and even win.
Nice guys finish last they always told me – you changed that equation. Isn’t there a book by that name The Nice Guy who Finished First as well on you? In the list of my favourite cricketers you will always lead the pack. What a fabulous pack I grew up watching; I can only imagine how much you enjoyed playing with that bunch. Tendulkar, Saurav, Srinath, Kumble, and VVS – Aha the partnerships with him. You two blokes made me bunk college and office a lot of times and I ran out of excuses in front of my professors and bosses.
I wanted to walk up to you the innumerable times I watched you from the Pavilion Stands at Wankhede, but hey I’m not like those silly girls who chase their cricketing heroes; I’m the serious kind – the one who loves the game. I’ll take watching you bat for hours rather than waste those hours chasing to catch a glimpse of you. But I was tempted at times, like the time when I came to Bangalore in my final year engineering industrial visit – I harboured thoughts of breaking away from the gang, catching a rickshaw and taking it to your house in Indranagar.
My first job post MBA was in Bangalore, I was tempted again and then unknowingly I got the chance. You were being felicitated at Maharastra Mandal and my friends called me over. You spoke in your bits and pieces Marathi over the Sachin declaration controversy – remember?
“Sachin and me Marathit bolun sagla clear kela” (Sachin and I sorted out the issue in Marathi).
I could not stop smiling. Later I even got onto the stage and took your autograph, and that is only because my to-be sister-in-law had pestered the hell out of me to get one for her. It is my biggest sacrifice till date, giving that treasure to her but she has kept it lovingly even today.
And this final memory from the MTV Bakra – it is also one of my favourites – “How old are you? Usko bolo concentrate on studies,Yeh shaadi ka khayal chod de”. (ask her to concentrate on studies and forget this marriage thought)
The Mr. Nice Guy even then, even now.
Memories – no one can take them away, however the one memory I want someone take away is my most feared memory – of this day. I knew it would come one day the moment you had stepped out to bat at Lords in 1996 at number 7. It is the inevitable fact of a sporting life – our heroes take birth and then they leave. They are never going to be around forever; we know this truth from the moment we see them take their first steps. And yet like many things in life even though we know the inevitability of it all – we can never prepare ourselves for the conclusion to the colossus career, the final chapter, the last act, the last moment – The END.
To not see you in whites again
To not see you come out at one down again
To not see you in that blue cap again
To not see you take a stance again
To not see you grind on the pitch again
To not see you put up the dead bat for hours and hours and wear out the bowlers again
To not see you leave the deliveries outside the off and yell “well left” again
To not see you take those catches out of thin air again
To not call mom and ask her just check if Dravid’s still batting again
To not see the shy smile again
To not debate with the friends on why you top the list of my best batsmen again
To not hammer the bloke who calls you a slow poke and dour batsman
To not see you raise your cap, hands, bat and run down the track celebrating the victory again
To not see you jump in the air – point your bat at your detractors and say “TAKE THAT” again
To just NOT SEE YOU play cricket again
Rahul Dravid do you have any idea how much this is going to hurt the teenager who bored her father talking about you after that 95 you got on debut, while he tried to remind her that another player had got a 100 on debut and yet, all she could do was talk about you.
You were full of humility today – as always
“I’m moving on because the youngsters need to come in. 16-17 years from now you will be at a press conference of one of these players would have done better than Rahul Dravid.”
Yes, that could be a possibility and yes I’ll probably witness it. But none of them would have been my teenage hero and and none of them would be teaching me patience, belief, humility, modesty, sincerity – oh all those “Niceties” that you taught me!
So I don’t want to say goodbye and thank you for the memories, you needed to be immortal, playing this game till I died – that faith built over the years is going to take a hit now. I’m not getting over today – the day you bid adieu to the game and to us, I’ve the right to not get over. There are certain things in life where none of you folks are allowed to tell me to get over and move on.
There will be No Moving On from Rahul Dravid for me.
P.S: The pictures scanned from my collection of Sportstar and Newspaper cuttings over the years. A million thanks to the nice guy in my life – my dearest hubby for scanning them while I was putting this post up)
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. I saw someone on twitter call @sidvee’s piece almost a love letter. This ranks right up there.
Thejas thanks for the lovely words but honestly no one writes better on Dravid than Siddhartha 🙂
nostalgia!!
u wrote it just like i’d like to read:)
Shruti glad you liked it 🙂
Tribute, straight from the heart, Minal. The Beauty in your Prose does full justice to the accomplishments of Dravid and for every run of his, you match him word for word.
Prasad, That’s too high a praise for me. Thanks
Excellent Article…Kudos to you minal!
Thanks Devendra
I really dont have anything to comment upon. This piece is a beauty. I am gonna re-read it many times over today…
Thanks Advait 🙂
Goodness me, Minal! I think I had a moist eye midway through this. He will remain my favorite Indian and boy, I could use some bits from this the next time I explain people why is that to me. Sadness is not the feel today. It’s the ending of a dream, a surreal one. Never had it any better after that Wasim and that Lara chap. Jammy is the closest I’ll ever let anyone come to them.
Masuud, you know the feeling – Wasim, Lara, Dravid sigh! 🙁 Can you believe I was all teary eyed during the presser today. It is too upsetting – childhood heroes, teenage heroes – sucks man 🙁
Straight from the heart! It’s clear you meant every word.
I’d love to write something as sincere as this…
Thanks Neeraj – you do write awesome posts – I still remember the Steve Jobs post you wrote 🙂
Cool post….how did you manage to collect (and more importantly catalog to retrieve on-demand) all those clippings? Brought back memories of where I was when some of those things happened…I remember the Dravid-Laxman p’ship because I was not watching it live but following it in a hotel, seeeing the scores on the NDTV ticker, and the score kept growing and growing…and growing………
Sandip,
This collection from 90-04 I have carried with me to Dubai. I keep retrieving those fine memories time and again – they are a huge part of my childhood and teenage cricketing memories. So I spent the entire afternoon yesterday picking out RD’s pics and articles and match reports.
I had bunked college on those 2 days for Eden – my girl gang was not happy with me for missing Daru’s proj days ( like it ever mattered to me) :))
Btw, a true Rahul Dravid story – my wife is a huge RD fan. She once got his autographed poster during her college days and had put it up on her wall. There was some painting work at their house and they had to clear the walls. After the repainting, she tried to find the poster to put it back up but couldn’t…..Finally after a lot of searching and grilling her mom about it, she found the poster, folded about 8 times and used as packing beneath their bed, which thatks to repolishing, was no longer level 🙂
Tell Gauri I already love her – and I share her grief!
An honest & well written, well paid tribute… guess someone should forward this to Dravid himself…
Thanks Rahul for the many many kind words.
Just read this somewhere…
“Dear DRAVID, you might not be in the NATIONAL Team anymore, but you will always be part of the NATIONAL ANTHEM”
🙂
Whenever the national anthem would play – I’d emphasize on the “DRAVID” word! Sigh! 🙂
Hi minal,
u have written an whole nice essay on him.
But u have missed an most important point.
Test matches will not remain the same now……….
We dont have a single cricketer in test match who can match to Dravids stature, and i dont think there can ever be.
Maybe its not an end of a career, its an end of most glorified period of Test matches
One last thing, test matches tests patience and patience tests ability to survive and hit backkkkk…….
Hi Hitesh,
Nice point – but you missed something in my as you say “nice essay” 🙂 This post is between Rahul and Me – about me missing him. Test cricket will miss him no doubt – so I’ll let “test cricket” do the talking about it:-)
Great post..One of the things folks forget is that he was dropped from the team and made it back and he came back with a bang!…To me his most important contribution to Indian cricket other than the number of runs is the kind of mentality and attitude he gave to the batting..before Dravid, there was the batting crumbling after Sachin got out..once Dravid started grinding out he gave other batsmen the confidence to keep fighting once Sachin got out..I think he was a unique in the kind of temperament he had..At the cost of sounding blasphemous, I don’t think even Sachin sometimes had that kind of grit!
Hi Mangesh,
Today no comparisons between Sachin and Rahul – not today. Sachin is great in his own right, I completely disagree with you that Sachin did not have that grit. He did, he does, he has all his cricketing life. Sachin taught me to love this game, thanks to him I fell in love with my teenage hero Dravid. They both could not have achieved their greatness without each other 🙂 But today, we stick to Dravid – only Dravid. As one of the bloggers said and that line is stuck in my head ” Dravid was our umbrella for a rainy day” – sums it up perfectly:-)
Wow, loved it! Apart from Dravid, you managed to make me realize that I also miss Sportstar 😛
Rishabh,
I miss SportStar like hell – the paper mags are something else. No online magazine can have that charm.
Yesterday, one of my dravid devotee friend while talking about dravid, couldnt resist tears from his eyes. Today you made me end up with moist eyes.
Like you said, there is no moving on.
Thanks for the lovely words – I understand what your friend went through cause I was teary eyed whole day on Friday. Sadly, we have to live with this pain from now on 🙁
kiti chhan lihela aahes,will really miss dravid,the third picture posted here was there in my room too in our old eksar house,and still thanks to you have treasured his autograph.
Thanks dear :)) I knew you would treasure that autograph more than me 🙂
Sorry, maybe I touched a nerve there, it was not meant to be a comparison, just something that I observed. But I agree what Dravid meant to the team is completely different from Sachin and for the purposes of this blog let us leave that aside. There will surely be a column for that some day I hope 🙂
Oh no nerve 🙂 I’m absolutely fine with the comparisons but it takes a sad turn most times 🙂 Oh Sachin post will be there – how can you offend the cricketing GoD 🙂
Minal,
I am amazed to read this article !! It felt spritual !! My heartiest congratulations for this fabulous write up !!
Thank you very much Pankaj 🙂 Those are lovely words
Usually dont reply to posts, even the good ones coz the very feel of it sounds cumbersome, yup i epitomise laziness, but couldnt help but feel compelled to write to you having read this one.. Someone called it a love letter. I couldnt concur more.. And a tear or two did trickle down. May be more. But dats not important, what is important is dat what youve conjured up is probably the best tribute to the man ive read.. Simply awe inspiring. So much so dat i just decided to pen one myself.
Like you i too have grown up worshipping him.. Believing we were still safe as long as he was still standing, the other batsman could well have been a tailender.. His leaves. His dead bats. His ducking under the bouncer. His cover drives.His Square Cuts. His pulls. His straight flat Sixes. His late cuts. His countless slip catches. His Plucks at silly point.His wicket keeping. His raising of the bat and helmet together after a century. And last of all his humility inspite of being Rahul THE WALL Dravid.
Inimitable Dravid.
While his glory will be missed, These memories, and countless others arent going anywhere. And dat is the best part of this journey with Him.
Thanks Ojasvi – yes he will be badly missed!
Fantastic and nostalgic .Great piece of work >Minal 🙂
Thanks Prakash 🙂
August 24 is the date, i read this masterpiece.
I’m late by 5 months, but glad i read it, thank you Minal..
Would you like you write an article for our book on Rahul Dravid?
if yes, please drop a mail..
ravikm.blr@gmail.com
Hey Minal. Its been a while now. I guess we should be moving on. Like you said though, its just not possible. Its not that I’ve stopped watching cricket or loving it. I probably watch more if it now because less it at stake, because its just entertainment. At the end of a troubled day though, when I’m off to bed and I have my just my imagination to fall back upon, I still picture Rahul, coming out to bat in some fucked up situation. Leave, leave, forward defence, up on his toes, cut, leave, leave, on drive, forward defence, through the covers, leave, leave, pull, and on and on. I don’t know if this will ever change.
Thanks for your piece, it was a lovely read.
Avinash,
It’s difficult to imagine anyone else at no 3, the next generation looks good though but somehow I doubt I’ll be as fanatic about them as I was about the Fab four
brilliant piece.. Almost made me cry.i miss him sorely 🙁
Thanks Rishi – yes we all will miss him terribly
Minal tai – As i was reading this article it bought me those fond memories of this wonderful cricketer and also made me cry
Thanks for writing such an excellent article.
Glad you liked it Rohish 🙂
Hi Minal,
It’s a beautiful article. Loved it.
I am Sudarshan, a panelist of “Behind The Wall”(BTW), a project being done by Dravid fans. It’s a book on Dravid from fan’s perspective. It will contain fans feelings n opinions put through articles, poems and sketches. It will also have some guest interviews from some of the stalwarts in the cricketing world. I liked your article and your article fits very well into the theme of our book. With your permission we would like to include it in the book.
(We took permission from the man himself to write the book.)
Please send your article to rktwall@gmail.com (official id ). To know more about the project or for further communication, you can contact me throughsudarshan.annadanam@gmail.com (or through our official id).
Thank you,
Awaiting your reply,
A. Sudarshan Chakravarthy
Panelist, Behind the Wall.
Hi Mrinal,
It’s a nice article. Loved it.
I am Sudarshan, a panelist of “Behind The Wall”(BTW), a project being done by Dravid fans. It’s a book on Dravid from fan’s perspective. It will contain fans feelings n opinions put through articles, poems and sketches. It will also have some guest interviews from some of the stalwarts in the cricketing world. I liked your article and your article fits very well into the theme of our book. With your permission we would like to include it in the book.
(We took permission from the man himself to write the book.)
Please send your article to rktwall@gmail.com (official id ). To know more about the project or for further communication, you can contact me through sudarshan.annadanam@gmail.com (or through our official id).
Thank you,
Awaiting your reply,
A. Sudarshan Chakravarthy
Panelist, Behind the Wall.
Rahul Dravid – the unsung hero of Indian Cricket–We gonna miss him like hell–
Hi Minal, I don’t think our names alone are not similar. Every bit you wrote in there happened in my Life too for the SAME INSANELY NICE GUY. Only difference is my paper-cuttings would be in Tamil and only of the matches. I still have it but didn’t stick it to The Wall because I was and am scared that I would not see him again like that. I wanted to carry on seeing him in those cuttings forever. I’ve learnt from him alot and even now I’m learning.. THANK YOU for pouring my heart for me. Thank You….
Meena,
Thanks for stopping by and pouring your heart out 🙂 I hope Rahul knows how many lives he has touched 🙂
I dnt wat to say on ur words Minal. though i read it before bt expressing my words today only. each and every word of urs was describing mah teenage, i did nt only lov dis guy bt i lived my life wid him, in my imaginations he was my best frnd , class mate and hero of every movie i used to watch. my feet, my heart and senses were out of the world wen he hit last wining four in Adelaide in 2003. you allowed me to live my teenage again wid my best frnd. thnk u so much MINAL.
Thanks Divya glad you liked the post
WoW…!!! Great post !!!!!!!!!!!
m also biggg fan of Rahul…Loves him a lot….!!
I too have collected too many paper cuttings of him…Completely mad for him…
You wrote amazing…exactly what i feel…Love u for this 😀
Do take a look when free
http://ketakipetare.blogspot.in/2014/01/falling-in-to-you.html
My eyes r moist. Feeling chokd. M a big fan of Rahul bt probably cudnt hav justified d emotions so delicatly n butifuly. :-* Hats off 2 u minal. M readng dis almost 2 after Rahuls retirement bt still feelng d emtions same. Gret !! Fantastic !! Suprb !!:-)
Its as if u hav written my heart out. Thnx a lot. Hope I cn meet Rahul sumday
Minal what an amazing article hats off to you. RD is undisputedly finest no 3 batsmen the world has ever seen. We are indeed lucky that we were the live audience of his 16 years career. What Rahul Sir taught us in test is acclaimed a lot but the last IPL series that he captained for RR ( though i am not fan of T20 as its entertainment not real cricket) proved us what great person the legend is. He was the Dark knight of RR who gave the team dream run with match fixing scandal left with only 12 players on bench they reached the semis lost to Mumbai. Being a mumbaikar i never wanted Mumbai to win that match. His aura is beyond description. Another idol of yours Harsha Bhogle even i am big fan of him has rightly said about RD “The Wolf who lived for the pack”.
Minal,
Speechless & with moist eyes, I am so glad that there many more Rahul Dravid fans who are out there ready to speak their mind.
I am ashamed I came across this after all these days, but better late than never. Unlike you, did not start following him since Lords, but have followed him till the day he said ‘Thank You everyone for being there for me’.
Here is my piece on him https://www.facebook.com/notes/sagar-tanna/why-rahul-dravid/10151936737539624 :o). Hope you enjoy it.
One of the most beautiful write ups ever….. Really loved to read about the person I admire the most.
It was a pleasure to read those wonderful words straight from the heart …….Dipanjan
Thank you Dipanjan – Rahul has been a very special player for Indian cricket
another thing about him-never playing for personal records and had guts to declare sachin at 194