A tribute to Rahul Dravid through Indian Philosophy
This term of my MBA at XLRI, I am studying a course called Indian Philosophy for leadership excellence.
It was fitting only to write a tribute to India’s one of the greatest player Rahul Dravid on what I see in him similar to characters from mythology to freedom struggle of India.
Rahul Dravid recently played his final One-day International for India. Lot of people have bid farewell to this great warrior. For people like me who are always mesmerized by national heroes, there was regret that I have never seen Maharana Pratap. This regret overcame when I saw another national Hero in Rahul Dravid fighting with a bat on the ground like an insurmountable rock against every opposition in the world. A guy who was humble and down to earth, was told every day that he is no good for ODIs and being 8th highest run scorer and 7th on the list of players to have played maximum ODIs was an achievement which came from nerves of steel and determination of Iron.
Only character with whom I can compare him is Urmila wife of Laxman in Ramayana. Her sacrifice was also immense but somehow she is forgotten every time we talk about Ramayana. Dravid has seen eras of Azharuddin’s classy wristwork; Ganguly, Sehwag and Yuvraj’s blasting aggression and Sachin was always around with his greatness. He was not a glamorous hard hitter of the ball but whenever India was in trouble always one name came in mind to save the day, which was faith in Dravid’s ability. He has done everything that was asked of him, even wicket-keeping 73 matches for India and never complained.
No one can forget that he is the only player who has featured in two 300 run partnerships in ODI. He scored 145 during 1999 world cup batting with Ganguly against Sri-Lanka when they added 318 and then 153 against New-Zealand when 331 runs were added by Sachin and him. A 50 of 22 balls against New Zealand and 92 of 63 balls against England were memorable for all Indian cricket fans.
During childhood I used to watch Holy serials on TV with my Grandparents. One thing I vividly remember about all of them is the respect Shiva used to have for Vishnu whenever he did something good for humans and vice-versa. I used to be surprised that why would a god fold his hand in front of other when he was so powerful to do anything just by thinking.
When Sachin praised Rahul’s contribution to world of Indian cricket and the above scenes came in my mind. How blessed have we been to grow up watching these Gods day after day playing for India in past 15 years. Lot of people have talked about the relationship between both of them but I just feel anyone is too naïve to judge these super-humans.
God bless you Rahul Dravid and I sincerely hope we continue to see your magnificence in Test Cricket. You have inspired a generation of people like me who weren’t born with god-gifted talent but continued faith in hard-work and discipline to reach a platform where we can have a humble beginning of our careers.
Winston Churchill had said in World War 2 “Never was so much owed by so many to so few”.
Thanks a lot for everything you have done for us 1.2 billion people.
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