Picture Speaks – Memorable pictures of Rahul Dravid

Anantha Subramanya K

As RahulDravid begins his tenure as coach of the Indian cricket team, officiates the first match today, would like to share these two images with very memorable stories behind it.

Unlike other celebrities or cricketers, Dravid was not publicity crazy and always media shy unless it was an official press conference or at the time where we could click his classy knocks while he was on the pitch. It was very difficult to click his candid moments and sometimes he used to request us not to click his pics and get upset too at times.

First image was at a beach in Colombo. Dravid was captain of the Indian team playing against South Africa & hosts Sri Lanka in 2006. After the press conference on the day of the team’s arrival in Colombo, while many chose to settle for high tea, me and senior colleague from Delhi Gurinder Osan followed Dravid in the hope of getting some off the beat shots. To our surprise, the captain and a few of team mates walked out of the hotel Taj Samudra and started jogging on the beach. Just to click a few pics running along with Dravid & Sachin, it was a herculean task, especially with a heavy backpack with equipment & a laptop, a monopod and also the part of the luggage as we were yet to settle into our allotted room in Hotel Cinnamon Grand. Yet, this image and that I got on the day we landed made me immensely happy.

Second image was on the day when Dravid announced his retirement from International Cricket. In the room full of media and select friends and family. Again, after his press conference, he refused to separate bytes for the channels and walked out as he came in. As I had told earlier, he would not entertain photo requests too if we ask him to pose. But that day, 9th March 2012, was a lucky day, especially for me and my senior colleague Bhagya Prakash , chief Photographer, The Hindu, Bengaluru. I chose to follow him and jumped the stairs three at a time to catch up with Dravid who was going down in a lift. Bhagya behind me. As soon as Dravid removed his coat and was ready to enter his car, with the public running behind him, I went up to him, and asked him if he could just step out of the car and pose in front of the wall at KSCA that was dedicated to him. With the words “Commitment, Consistency, Class” written on it. It was a hope against hope that Dravid would agree. But alas! He gave me a smile, got out of the car and walked to the wall like a classy straight drive to the boundary. Despite the public rushing towards him and people vying with each other to get close to him, within a few seconds that he gave us, I got my PICTURE PREFECT of the PERFECT GENTLEMAN. With all the three words visible in the same frame with WALL himself rightly positioned. A dream frame for any photojournalist.

(Anantha Subramanyam K , is a renowned photo journalist based in Bangalore)