M A I N   N E W S

Special to the tribune
Sharmila launches ‘Pataudi, Nawab of Cricket’ today
Shyam Bhatia in London

A second book by and about Tiger Pataudi is in the pipeline, his wife Sharmila Tagore has revealed. Sharmila will be in London on Friday for the UK book launch of ‘Pataudi, Nawab of Cricket’, a compilation of 22 essays in the memory of the former cricket captain that was published earlier this year by Harper Collins. Sharmila herself has written the foreward, along with contributions from daughters Saba and Soha.

The event is being organized by the Indian Journalists Association (IJA) in the Thomas Lord suite at Lord’s cricket ground. Former IJA president Ashis Ray has collected a 16-page collection of tributes from Tiger’s friends, including commentator and former Australian Test cricketer Richie Benaud, which he will present to Sharmila.

Tiger’s UK-based friends and admirers will have an opportunity to come together on Friday in his memory, thanks to the efforts of the IJA and the MCC who have made space available at Lord’s.

“Colin Maynard (Deputy Chief Executive of the MCC) who is a very sweet person at the MCC gave us one of the rooms at Lord’s, so the whole thing came together,” Sharmila told The Tribune in an exclusive interview. “I gave the IJA a list of my friends, obviously quite edited because I know lots of people and they have their own members and the place can only take so many. It will be more his English friends, although some will not be able to come because of Ascot.”

Commenting about the book of essays published last January, Sharmila revealed that Tiger was working on his own book of personal reminiscences that he wasn’t able to complete before he died in 2011. This book, also to be published by Harper Collins, lacks all but the last two chapters. It is based on Tiger’s conversations with journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury.

“Tiger was writing something, an autobiography that he couldn’t finish, but that needed a lot of checking. He had started it a couple of years ago but it was progressing very slowly. I presume he was going to tweak it himself. There’s a bit of a gap in the narrative, so when the whole thing comes to us maybe we can ask the people who’ve been interviewed a little bit more.

“I don’t have an idea what it contains, I don’t know how it starts, but I’m sure there is a little bit about his father, everything.”

Asked what she remembered most about Tiger, Sharmila said: “I miss his humour, his way of looking at things so clearly and coming to decisions very objectively. His objectivity and dispassionate way of looking at things with clarity was different from mine. His humour, his viewpoint was so clear.”