Extended insight into the psyche of India's best ever Test No. 3. The book is structured into sections with each featuring a band of three to four essays on an aspect of Dravid – the man, the cricketer, the best knocks, and broadly, writings on the aesthetic and intellectual value of how he played the game. Besides these, this anthology also collects and reprints some of Rahul's interviews (and also his 2011 Bradman oration in its entirety) – all of which are fascinating because they allow a peek into the introspective, meditative intensity and ease with which a master goes about his chosen art. The only essay of the lot that can be labelled a critique of Dravid comes from Sanjay Manjrekar, the batsman Dravid replaced in the Indian team. It would be reductive to write Manjrekar off as someone bitter. His essay is in many ways uniquely incisive because he is a peer of Dravid's who has actually breathed the rarefied air of the parallel universe inhabited by elite professional cricketers in India. I deeply believe that the hero's you idolize and worship in your childhood have a lot to say about how you eventually turn out as a person. By that measure, there could never be a better hero than Rahul Dravid. Tough, humble and always committed to the cause there is nothing more that can be said about Dravid that this book and countless other articles and people have already said. This particular composition is no less, breaking down a 20 year international career into various facets and getting varied views on how people saw the man. And you know how much a person is held in regard when everyone has just about the same thing to say - that he is and always will be a great person over a great batsman. That in my books is the biggest honour that anyone can get in their lives. If you are a Dravid fan then I really hope you read this and even if you are not, read it for the way in which a life so great has been covered so well.
What do You think about Rahul Dravid: Timeless Steel (2012)?
