Friday, September 23, 2011

Pataudi and me.

I do not know whether I sound too pompous with this heading of mine for today's post but this was the most natural thing that had crystallised in my brain after I'd heard of his passing away. Pat was a hero to many of my generation with his easy style and in the swashbuckling manner that he played his cricket. So much so that I'd waltzed into my school's cricket eleven with my leg spinners, a decent batting prowess and solid fielding capabilities!

Pataudi is the guy who brought in class to Indian cricket and the feeling of self belief amongst the Indian cricket team by winning the first ever test series abroad, against new Zealand in 1967 - 68. And I can never forget his performance, in the third test in Dunedin in one of the innings, I presume, where his individual score was equal to the sum total of his teammates' aggregate! He was my hero in its true sense!! His marrying the gorgeous Sharmila Tagore just added to his stature.

And now I go into an entirely different time setting. It was early 1979 and I was a Subaltern on board the Indian Naval Ship Krishna. My senior, who was also my DivO in the Academy, Sarath Jain and me decided to watch the World Billiard Finals between Mike Russell of England and our own, Michael Ferreira at the Bombay Gymkhana Club. Into the first few laps of the game, Pataudi came and occupied the seat to my left and he queried on the scores and the way the game was poised. I was thrilled to bits and over the next couple of hours or so, we'd exchanged a lot of trivia along with the information that he'd wanted! In the process, I'd told him as to how I'd developed my love for the game of cricket thanks to him and narrated all that I'd experienced on the field till then. He seemed to be thrilled by my verbal gymnastics and had invited me to the Taj Mahal hotel for a drink and further interaction. Unfortunately, I'd another official engagement that day and could not redeem that offer. And the urgency of living my life did not give me another opportunity to get to know him closer. And I realise that the loss is entirely mine.

As I saw his last rites on television today, I've this overwhelming feeling of a very personal loss. May God give him peace in eternal life and I bow my head in tribute to my childhood hero! May his family have the strength to pass through their troubled times.

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