Dravid

It was year 1996, I was in 6^th standard and this man’s short interview appeared on DD News. He was selected for India tour of England. 16 years later I was watching the video clip where he formally announced his retirement. In 16 years a lot has changed in me as a person. I have a larger, in fact huge appreciation for grit now, a much better understanding of what it takes to take a bad remark and still stand firm and let your work do the talking, much deeper meaning of resilience, strength of character and humility. I have been fortunate enough, I guess, to have seen one such man, who seemed one of our own and who epitomized everything I wrote just now. 

If you look at the career of this great batsman all what you will see the rigor with which he performed his action. Pure actions and just that. Day in day out for 16 years. I don’t remember an instance when one has seen Dravid doing anything else than actions aligned to his duties. Bad form, criticism, scandals, captains, players, coaches, selecters came and went by and so did numerous journalists, articles, opposition bowlers and players and analyst. What they could not change is this man’s focus on his actions. The older he became the harder he practiced. And I guess the root of all the qualities I mentioned is only one thing, the pursuit of excellence by performing your actions under a backdrop of extreme hardwork and honesty.  The quality of not losing focus from your own duty, come what may.

In his own words, I may have failed at times, but I never stopped trying. For him trying to achieve excellence was far more important than the achievement itself. Process is of much more importance than the product. A beautiful process has to lead to a superior product. Actions always supersede fruits.