Tiger, Tiger, burning bright ...

Today memories of my youth are flooding me. Those days, there was no TV or cable, only the radio, the All India Radio and the newspapers. One has to tune into the radio to follow the game of cricket. That too, a person like me did not have a radio or even electricity in the house. I had to go to a friend’s house or to the college hostel to listen to the running commentary. It is during this period that a comet blazed the Indian skies in the form of the Nawab of Pataudi, the last Nawab of Pataudi. Born into affluence in the form of the princely states of Pataudi on the father’s side and Bhopal on the mother’s side, Mansur Ali Khan grew up like a prince, studied in the English public school and Oxford. His parents affectionately called him Tiger. (Long before a Tiger Woods there was a Tiger Pataudi.) His father played, both for England and India. The senior Pataudi died on the junior’s birthday. Pataudi showed such a promise in his younger years that his coach thought his ward was going to become another Bradman. But fate willed otherwise. In an automobile accident, a splinter hit his right eye and he lost total vision in that eye. But it did not deter him and soon he was getting accustomed to the use of just one eye. In the beginning, he used to have double vision and by experience he understood that it is the nearer image that is the right one. At twenty he represented India and scored his first century and a few months later became India’s captain at 21 becoming the youngest in the world to captain a test side. This record stood for nearly forty years till Taibu of Zimbabwe broke it a few years ago.

The Indian team was then a collection of individuals with identities of Bombay or Mysore, Delhi or Bengal. It was he who drilled into his players that they all played for India. It is curious though, that this was advocated by a man brought up in the English traditions. He was a great fielder, a gifted batsman, an astute captain, an impartial leader. What touched me today was the way in which his teammates reacted to his death. It is not some customary obituary statement, but more personal and affectionate, coming from the bottom of their heart. Viswanath, Prasanna, Chandra, Bedi, Mohinder, Durrani, Ajit and others were so warm and their statements were so moving that one is forced to shed a few tears. Other captains might have statistically achieved better results than him, but Pataudi built the foundations for an Indian cricket team. In those days, a draw was considered as a win. In the 1959 series against the West Indies, there were four captains in five tests. The money too was paltry. Pataudi himself told once that it was something like 1000 Rupees per day or so. He used to tell his players that he would give them more money if they achieved a win for India. He encouraged the spin bowlers so much that they would do anything for him. When he played for Hyderabad in the Ranji trophy, his captain was Jaisimha. In fact Pataudi used to tell that he learnt some skills in captaincy under Jaisimha, who played under him for India! If only he had the use of two eyes like all others, what batting heights he would have reached is anybody's guess.

He wooed his future wife Sharmila (Rinku) for four years with roses and a refrigerator. His family members were dead against a marriage with a film actor and her family members were dead against a Muslim match. Even when they finally married, everyone predicted that it would end in a year or two. But it lasted for more than 40 years. He never asked his wife to change her habits for his sake. He had a dry sense of humour too. When somebody asked for his autograph, he told him that he must get it from his film actor son. He used to pull the legs of his teammates so much in a very unsuspecting manner.

Tiger, Tiger, you’re still burning bright in my memory. Thank you, my hero of the youth, for the pleasant memories.

J K Mohana Rao