The tributes continue

Here are some: Rob Smyth, TGS, Alex Massie, Nirmal Sekhar, Rohit Brijnath, Laxman (yes VVS)

Some excerpts

For those who are into spirituality this should hit the right cord (from TGS link above)

He is one of the few sportsmen who could rightly be called The Gold Standard and that is not for his achievements on the field. In fact, that is because he did not allow Dravid, the cricketer destroy Dravid, the man. That is the true essence of ‘Sthitha Prajnan’ (hard to put it in English) that Lord Krishna talks about in Bhagavadh Gita:

 

“Sthitha Prajna is the concept, discussed in the Sankhya Yoga of the Gita, of a free being who lives in this world and appears to be like anybody else. A Stitha Prajna is one whose mind has become absolutely sill, quietened, tranquil.

When all desires of the heart have rested and the heart finds joyous satisfaction in itself because it has found that all joy exists within independent of external factors, then one is spoken of as a person of steady wisdom, a Sthitha Prajna.

A Sthitha Prajna, does what is necessary for the betterment of humanity with a completely tranquil mind, unperturbed. A person whose mind is tranquil will not react to situation in a way that causes harm to others because he sees everybody as his own self.”

Another quote (alex Massie)

The next week, at Sydney, Dravid batted for six and half hours to score 53 and 38 in another Indian defeat. Footwork and form were returning, albeit slowly. All this patience would be rewarded in Perth where Dravid's 93 (in nearly five hours) would be test's top score and a vital contribution to India's victory. At their own level, anyone can be brilliant when in form; it takes character to be oddly-brilliant when plumb out of touch. That takes fortitude. If batting is often a matter of resisting temptation there have been few purer souls in my lifetime than Rahul Dravid.

Nirmal Sekhar says it perfectly

Hey, Rahul, here's the 'keeper's gloves. Hey, Rahul, will you open the innings today? But, no, Rahul, wait a minute ... maybe you can bat at No. 4. Hey, hold it. What about No. 6?  No other player as good as Dravid has ever been “used”' with such cruel disregard for the man's self-respect in the entire history of Indian cricket. But these things hardly mattered to him. For, Dravid was the ultimate team-man in a very selfish sport and in the most selfish era in the history of professional sport.

..

He was more Boycott than Bradman but without the selfishness of the English opener.

Rohit's piece

He had been invited to a discussion on the sporting mind to inaugurate the Bangalore launch of Olympic shooting gold medallist Abhinav Bindra’s autobiography. 

“No speech, right?” he insisted, for that would mean a month’s dutiful hard labour for him. No, I promised. Only a discussion.

Except on launch day, in the evening, he took me aside. “I’d like to make a short speech, is that OK?” 

And so he did, a charming, generous introduction about Bindra and his virtues and the challenge of the Olympics. He is 10 years older than the shooter and far more celebrated, but this was not his moment, he wanted the shooter to have the sun and being in the shadows anyway held no fear for him. It was not Dravid at his best, it was simply just Dravid being himself.

 

I will end with this piece that I think does true justice to Dravid (Tendulkar Fans please dont read this)

Man, Dravid's going to be a hard act to follow (if there ever will be one)