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Mansur Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi, was quite a looker himself
© The Cricketer International
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As the reporters sit despondently in the press box on the morning of
the second day of the Mohali Test, gazing out at the drizzle,
IS
Bindra, the chief of the Punjab Cricket Association, walks in.
"Begum Pataudi is addressing a press conference soon," he announces.
Begum Pataudi? It must be Baig and Pataudi, I tell myself. Abbas Ali
Baig and Tiger Pataudi must be here, and are meeting the press. That
doesn't sound too bad. Nostalgic questions can be asked about old
series. I rise up in satisfaction, walk down to the hall where the press conferences take place, and Sharmila Tagore walks in.
Tagore is the immaculately pedigreed lady - her grandfather was the
Nobel laureate Rabindranath - who has acted for Satyajit Ray and with
Rajesh Khanna, though never in the same film. To top it all, she then
got married to Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, also known as Tiger, as if he
was a balm. Cricket and Bollywood, thus, were married long before
Lagaan. She went on to have children who became actors, and is
now the chairman of the censor board of India. If she doesn't like a scene in
a new film, she says "snip", and negatives fall to the floor, where
they roll raunchily.
She talks about both films and cricket. Or rather, about censorship
and cricket. "You have to pay importance to regional sensibilities,"
she says. "Every culture is different." Phrases like "commodification
of women" slip out fluidly, and she talks of "seminars on obscenity".
She says that "obscenity" had increased in recent years, but also
admits that so has the status of women in India. "They [women in
India] have more money," she says, "but emancipation must be
accompanied by responsibility."
Then we move to the cricket, and, to, inevitably, her husband. She is
asked about the qualities that made him such a fine leader, and she
replies: "He is a patient man. He is non-biased, in the sense that he
never has a predetermined view towards anything. He listens to
everyone, and is quick to get to the essence of a problem. That gives
him credibility, and people trust him."
She is a lady who likes her cricket, "especially the five-day game".
So when was the first time she saw Pataudi play? "Against West
Indies," she says, "but I was a fan of [ML] Jaisimha." She smiles.
Jaisimha, of course, is considered by many to be the best captain
India never had, and this is the wife of the man who captained in his
stead. Poignant.
She departs after revealing that Rahul Dravid is her favourite current
Indian cricketer. She refuses to comment on who the "best-looking" one
is. As IS Bindra thanks the press for attending, he informs us: "She
has bowled all of you over." We nod appreciatively.
After I return to the press box, a colleague who had remained there
asks me, "So how was Abbas Ali Baig?"
"Nice," I reply. "But he was much prettier when he was young."