The captain8217;s innings

My mission was not to discuss cricket or his high-profile family that includes the Bollywood star,Saif Ali Khan. My long-term interest was to trace the social profile of his distinguished family connected with Pataudi now in Haryana and Bhopal. The more immediate purpose was to explore how Mansur, having played his long innings on the 22-yard strip, related to the daily chores of life. How does an aristocrat respond to the decline of the nawabi order, the diminishing influence of his family in Bhopal, and the rise of new social classes which have no sympathy for his lifestyle? What, in the present political climate, are the social and intellectual engagements of a man who spent many years of his life at Winchester and Balliol?

Mansur does not bemoan the collapse of the feudal order, though he is critical of those who blame the princely families for all the ills in our society. Yes, he takes pride in his ancestry and heritage. Why should he not? His father, a conscientious objector8217; to Jardine8217;s bodyline tactics, led the Indian team against England in 1946 and was an outstanding cricketer. In 1947,he, an admirer of Jawaharlal Nehru, did not pack his bags for Pakistan, preferring to persuade the Muslim peasants on his Pataudi estate to stay put in India. In a region where organised communal violence reached its high watermark after Partition, not many Muslims paid heed to his advice.

The Bhopal family, with its illustrious line of Begums, has had a chequered career. One of them, Sikandar Begum d. 1868, introduced agricultural, economic, administrative and legal reforms. She was bold enough to do away with purdah8217; and appeared in public attired in military accouterments. Her daughter Sultana Jahan Begum revealed incipient nationalist leanings when she declined to endorse Allied War aims. She criticised British repression and told Punjab8217;s Political Agent that General Dyer and Michael O8217;Dwyer should both be stripped of their pensions. Her son, twice Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes, was actively involved in the radical politics of the Young Party8217; Muslims. This led to his right of successionbeing strongly disputed by the British government. When, in 1930, Gandhi inaugurated civil disobedience, Nawab Hamidullah Khan Mansur8217;s grandfather upbraided Willingdon for making disparaging remarks about the Mahatma.

The fortunes of this family dwindled steadily after Bhopal, on the lapse of British paramountcy in 1947, was merged with the Indian Union. Like his counterparts in other former princely states, the Nawab-Chancellor was confused and bewildered by the turn of events. He was pensioned off and received a privy purse of 1,100,000 rupees of which 100,000 rupees was allocated to the heir-apparent who eventually migrated to Pakistan. In 1960, he died in the Middle East in forlorn obscurity.

The abolition of privy purses was a bombshell. 8220;We knew that privy purses would not continue forever, but we should have been given some time to set our house in order8221;, observed Mansur in a melancholic tone. The imposition of urban ceiling in Madhya Pradesh was the last straw. The Bhopal family, now at themercy of politicians, lost 1,100 acres of urban property in Bhopal and over 1,000 acres of agricultural property. No wonder, Mansur, who should have been busy coaching our young cricketers, spends much of his time knocking at the doors of lawyers to seek redressal in the courts. It is a battle that many have lost.

A career in politics may have helped to consolidate the inherited assets, but that was not to be. The murky world of regional and local politics is not, after all, everybody8217;s cup of tea. Although Rajiv Gandhi and Arjun Singh prevailed upon Pat8217; to contest from Pataudi, the khadi-clad politician in the making found the going tough. His defeat at the hustings did not hurt, for his chances of winning were dimmed by the casteist politics of Haryana. The demolition of the Babri Masjid, on the other hand, was too bitter a pill to swallow. 8220;The thought structure of the country8221;, he commented, 8220;was demolished by the actions of a handful of fanatics8221;. Nowadays, Mansur stays clear of organisedpolitics, though he lends his name to various Muslim outfits committed to the community8217;s educational uplift.I asked Mansur Ali Khan to define himself, his identity. He looked puzzled.

He made a couple of ambivalent remarks emphasising his cosmopolitan background and, at the same time, pointing to the religious influence of his parents who were both devout Muslims. But he may have noticed that I was dissatisfied with his unreflective response. So he chose to write the following lines to me just before leaving for London for medical treatment: 8220;I am a Muslim, but I identify more with people who share my educational/social background, no matter what their religion. I believe in God, but I do not think that he expects me to rely on him exclusively, for my health and happiness. Given the choice of having Gary Sobers or God on my side, I would choose Sobers since I do not think God is interested in taking sides in cricket matches8221;.

How could I leave 1, Kamaraj Marg without discussing India8217;s dwindlingfortunes in the World Cup, just a few days before our ignominious defeat against New Zealand? What8217;s the future of Indian cricket? Grim, unless we prepare fast pitches and produce genuine fast bowlers. India8217;s future captain? Ajay Jadeja? The nawab nodded approvingly, though not enthusiastically. This must please Mohammad Azharuddin8217;s chief bete noire, Bishen Singh Bedi, who has relentlessly spearheaded, in the columns of this newspaper, a vicious campaign against the current captain.