Sharmila Tagore shares anecdotes about her late husband in the book "Pataudi: Nawab of Cricket"
Mumbai:
He was the undisputed Nawab ofIndian cricket but Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi could also playtabla, harmonium and flute and was equally sporting on thedance floor with his 'hiran dance' as good as any present-dayitem number, says his wife Sharmila Tagore.
"When I think back on some of Tiger's attitudes, actionsand reactions that were so uniquely his own, I realise how hewas an excellent mix of multiple cultural influences," Tagorewrites in the foreword of "Pataudi: Nawab of Cricket", ananthology of essays on the late cricketer, published byHarperCollins.
Tagore also says that punctuality was another virtuewhich she had to learn very quickly after her marriage to him.
"The only Bengali sentence he learnt to say was Tumi jodiponeroh minute-er modhe toiri na howe, tahole kintu ami cholejabo (If you don't get ready in 15 minutes, I am leaving) andthat's precisely what he did," she recalls.
Pataudi's father introduced him to the richness andbeauty of Indian classical music and at his behest, he learntto play the flute, the harmonium and the tabla. Tiger had alsogreat dancing skills.
"Whenever the family got together, Tiger regaled us withhis 'hiran dance', which could compete with any present-dayitem number, and his hilarious 'Hawa mein udta jaaye' caper.Another oft-repeated favourite was the cricket dance.
"Tiger was a great Lata (Mangeshkar), Talat (Mahmood) and(Mohammad) Rafi fan and it was he who introduced me to BegumAkhtar. He was equally sporting on the dance floor if HarryBelafonte or Ella Fitzgerald were belting out their numbers,"she writes.
Another incident which Tagore mentions in the foreword isher photograph in a bikini that was carried on the cover of afilm magazine during her acting days that created a lot offurore.
"It was still early days in our relationship, he wasplaying at Hove for Sussex, and I was shooting for An Eveningin Paris in Europe. He sent me a telegram that read: 'Relax!You could only be looking very nice.' Simply that."
On her association with Tiger, she writes, "I had lovedTiger for 47 years, was married to him for almost 43. Wedidn't make it to 50. But it was a memorable partnership;certainly, an enriching one for me."
He had a form aversion to cuss words."This alwayssurprised me, given that he spent most of his youth away fromparental proprieties. There was a time in my life when I usedthe word 'crap' regularly and unthinkingly. One day he askedme, 'But do you know what it means?'
"And I must tell you, I stopped using it almost instantlyon discovering that minor detail. He would allow himself an 'OChrist!' in moments of surprise and exasperation. That was themost extreme expression of dissatisfaction I heard through allour years together," she says.
The book also has essays by Pataudi's daughters Saba andSoha Ali Khan besides a host of cricketers and writers.
"When I think back on some of Tiger's attitudes, actionsand reactions that were so uniquely his own, I realise how hewas an excellent mix of multiple cultural influences," Tagorewrites in the foreword of "Pataudi: Nawab of Cricket", ananthology of essays on the late cricketer, published byHarperCollins.
Tagore also says that punctuality was another virtuewhich she had to learn very quickly after her marriage to him.
"The only Bengali sentence he learnt to say was Tumi jodiponeroh minute-er modhe toiri na howe, tahole kintu ami cholejabo (If you don't get ready in 15 minutes, I am leaving) andthat's precisely what he did," she recalls.
Pataudi's father introduced him to the richness andbeauty of Indian classical music and at his behest, he learntto play the flute, the harmonium and the tabla. Tiger had alsogreat dancing skills.
"Whenever the family got together, Tiger regaled us withhis 'hiran dance', which could compete with any present-dayitem number, and his hilarious 'Hawa mein udta jaaye' caper.Another oft-repeated favourite was the cricket dance.
"Tiger was a great Lata (Mangeshkar), Talat (Mahmood) and(Mohammad) Rafi fan and it was he who introduced me to BegumAkhtar. He was equally sporting on the dance floor if HarryBelafonte or Ella Fitzgerald were belting out their numbers,"she writes.
Another incident which Tagore mentions in the foreword isher photograph in a bikini that was carried on the cover of afilm magazine during her acting days that created a lot offurore.
"It was still early days in our relationship, he wasplaying at Hove for Sussex, and I was shooting for An Eveningin Paris in Europe. He sent me a telegram that read: 'Relax!You could only be looking very nice.' Simply that."
On her association with Tiger, she writes, "I had lovedTiger for 47 years, was married to him for almost 43. Wedidn't make it to 50. But it was a memorable partnership;certainly, an enriching one for me."
He had a form aversion to cuss words."This alwayssurprised me, given that he spent most of his youth away fromparental proprieties. There was a time in my life when I usedthe word 'crap' regularly and unthinkingly. One day he askedme, 'But do you know what it means?'
"And I must tell you, I stopped using it almost instantlyon discovering that minor detail. He would allow himself an 'OChrist!' in moments of surprise and exasperation. That was themost extreme expression of dissatisfaction I heard through allour years together," she says.
The book also has essays by Pataudi's daughters Saba andSoha Ali Khan besides a host of cricketers and writers.
