Growing up, I wanted the respect of my peers, says Rahul Dravid

Growing up, I wanted the respect of my peers, says Rahul Dravid

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Rahul Dravid, known to be the nicest person to have ever played cricket, talks about how he did not deserve the honorary doctorate he was offered. The Wall also talked about why it is important to be respected among your peers, but at the same time, not being too proud of that.

If you have ever seen Rahul Dravid bat on the cricket pitch or seen him speak at some event, or just seen him do anything, you know he's not the kind of person who'll be the life of a party. He's always been a reserved person, preferring to keep things to himself.

"I am who I am. I am a slightly quieter person than other people. But in the confines of a dressing room and with people I know I’d like to think I’m pretty relaxed, yaar. People will and do get to know me. That’s important, right? It’s not an effort for me. As time has gone on, you mature, you are a bit more chilled. Interacting with your own children means that you lighten up a bit. I really think I’ve just been introverted and shy more than anything. At times it can be thought that he doesn’t like to talk. I’ve never tried to be someone I’m not. I can’t put up a face," he told Indian Express in an interview.

A few days ago, in true Dravid style, Dravid had turned down an honorary doctorate from a Bangalore university saying that he would instead like to earn the said degree. And definitely in Dravid style, he doesn't even believe that it is a big deal. He says he's seen his wife and mother earn doctorates by working very hard and that he has not done anything that deserves the doctorate.

"The thing about the doctorate is that my mom did her PhD and earned a doctorate at the age of 55. My wife’s a surgeon who studied seven years to get a degree in surgery. And I’ve always felt that if it was something I wanted, I would like to have earned it. I don’t mean that anyone else should have that feeling and I’m not trying to belittle anyone else. It’s just that I felt that way because of my own experiences. And it’s not the first time that people have asked me to become a doctorate. It’s just that it’s happened privately and over an email exchange. And before it’s been announced, I have declined it politely even then. It so happened that this unfortunately came out in public," he says.

However, being a good person is not something that he consciously does. It's just something that naturally comes to him. But at the same time, he realises that there are people who are watching him and kids who look up to him, and so it's important to be well behaved.

"I’ve never set any standard for myself. So there’s no question of living up to it. I don’t claim to be anything. So when I throw my cap sometimes when things go wrong, people go “Oh”. But for me, yeah it’ll happen, yaar. I’m just trying to be calm and conduct myself in the best way possible, I think. But that doesn’t mean I am thinking I should never go wrong. I’m not. There’s no pressure at all. You feel a responsibility as a public figure in India. There are certain things you have to be careful about. You expect that kids are watching you. In some ways you may not like it, but you are a role model for a lot of people."

And although he is not comfortable with people praising him, he has always wanted to be respected by his peers. "Growing up, I wanted the respect of my peers. When you find people you play with say things like that, it does feels nice to some level. It’s not something you can aim to achieve. But deep down, I am not comfortable with people praising me. It’s embarrassing at times. Being an Indian cricketer, I got used to people saying nice things about me. There’s also a flip side to it. I have also faced a lot of criticism in my career. When you get nice things said about you, you remind yourself that that’s great but there are also lots of times when people have judged me sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly. That balances it out. In my junior days, I never had that self-confidence or belief. At U-19 level, if you told me I’d play 160 Tests I would have laughed at you. I had this deep-down belief but that would have been too far-fetched. I would have never imagined my career would have panned out this way. It still sometimes feels surreal. The more I have coached and seen, I’m grateful things fell into place for me," he adds.

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