Since Rahul Dravid has recently retired it is a good moment to salute his genius and more importantly his public image. It cannot get better than this … hats off we are all proud of you.
Now coming to the book review – The book is a fairly easy read with simple language and the pages fly. However, the book fails to weave a match in front of the readers eyes. I would rate the book extremely readable but not a must-read.
Some of my favourite parts of the book –
* Sanjay Manjrekar (I presume 😉 ) has been mentioned directly and covertly at many places … and ohhh boy I liked it. ” … there were biased elements in the media who wrote nasty things about him. There was a television commentator who probably believed that Rahul edged him out of the Indian team and hence struggled to say anything good about him … ”
* Rahul would catch the early morning BTS bus from Indiranagar to KSCA and work in the nets from 6:15am till 9am. He would then change into school uniform on the deserted stairs of the Western Stand, for in those days there was no changing room facility in the outside practice ground. He would wolf down the breakfast he has brought from home on the same stairs and then, with cricket kit and school bag thrown over his shoulders, he would run the couple of kilometers to school. Armed with his favourite fruit, apple, which he would devour while jogging to school, Rahul would reach late; at times a couple of hours would have lapsed. Further he would skip the last period of the day to attend nets in the evening and would once again go home in a crowded BTS”
* Also there is a mention of how he would have different friends for play (i.e., cricket) and for work (i.e., exams). Though this fact does not cast a good light on him … defines how he could be successful in both academics and sports.
* A quote from Dravid himself “… the problem would be keeping to Sri (J. Srinath). He gets tremendous movement off the seam, even with the new ball. The problem is that most of the time the tilt is into the right-hand batsman – the unnatural side for me as wicket-keeper. And the angle of the ball keeps passing the batsman, keeps going away on the leg side. This at his genuine pace, would not only test the wicketkeeper, but end up bruising the fingers of his left hand, i.e., the right-hand batsman’s top hand. Unless a wicket-keeper can collect Sri’s delivery cleanly all the time, he would end up with broken or bruised fingers…”
* A quote from TE Srinivasan “… Kiri was mad or absolutely brilliant to stand upto Chandra …”
* The origins of the Dravid name is very interesting; and also the side note of Iyers in Tamilnadu are not considered Dravidians in the first place 😉
Some nit picking –
* Eulogizing of Pushpa Dravid. I am sure that Rahul and all the Dravid’s are very proud of Mrs.Pushpa. Mrs.Pushpa is successful and all the accolades and respect are well deserved. However, the extempore used to describe her in a book meant for her son seems out of place. I would rather have liked to know how she influenced her son rather than how she became successful. The detail of her struggle and achievements belongs to a biography of her own.
* More attention should be paid to spell check – Thimmappiah has been spelt as Thimmappaih 😦 South Indian names are not to be spelt in any which way. However this may be a mistake of the proof readers and not the author.
thoughtsoflight 