Nawabiyat At Its Nadir

Afghan warlords for ancestors. Indian cricket's Prince Charming. But did all that mask a perverse side? He is an enigma wrapped in contradictions. Updates

Nawabiyat At Its Nadir
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In early 16th century, an Afghan mercenary came to Delhi to offer his services to the Lodhis. In December 2002, the most famous descendant of that warrior told our sister publication Outlook Traveller: "We are basically Afghans with a bit of Turkish blood who came down a few hundred years ago as glorified mercenaries, rushed around on our horses and made space for ourselves. Over the years, we have become a little more sophisticated."

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As a life, it's been a strange one, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi's. Born into a royal family, he had the childhood that a prince could expect. Then, on January 5, 1952, his 11th birthday, as he waited to cut his birthday cake, news came that his father had died of a heart attack while playing polo.

Pataudi recovered. He played his first first-class cricket match for English county Sussex at age 16, while still in school. By 1961, when he was 20, he was heading the batting averages in county cricket. Then, a car accident, and he lost an eye.

Pataudi recovered. A year later, when a Charlie Griffith bouncer rammed the cranium of a ducking Nari Contractor, India's captain, he was shoehorned into captaincy. He was 21 years, 76 days old, and grew to be arguably India's greatest captain. Then in 1971, at the height of his powers, he was sacked by Vijay Merchant, the chairman of the selectors, who made fellow Mumbaiite Ajit Wadekar the captain.

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Pataudi recovered. In 1974, when West Indies came visiting, Pataudi was reinstated as captain. In the third Test at Calcutta, he was hit on the jaw by a delivery from Andy Roberts, then the world's fastest bowler. Pataudi retired hurt, and returned later, his face heavily bandaged, to make a gritty 36. India won the Test.

Life has dealt him strange cards, and Pataudi has always recovered. And remained an enigma. A leader of men who is a recluse. He can have the company in splits, yet is intensely shy. A man who absconded when charged with the killing of a black buck, a Schedule 1 protected species, but took Arnold Toynbee's History of the World with him to read while in police lock-up for two nights. A man nicknamed Tiger, who, if he killed the black buck, seems to have violated every rule of 'ethical' hunting, a code of honour he should be steeped in, as a prince.

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He shot—if he did, he denies it—a female black buck. Post-mortem reports by two independent vets, copies of which are with Outlook, confirm the gender. The unspoken edict among hunters is that you don't kill the gentler sex. Perhaps he and his friends didn't know that their prey was a female? Not true. The searchlights fitted on his car (again a violation of the hunting code) would have easily shown up the difference between a male and female black buck. Stags have long twisted horns and a dark cocoa-coloured coat with a white underside. Females are many shades lighter, and their horns, if any, are small. A hunter would've known this. But he killed her. In the breeding season, when no 'ethical' hunter goes out to shoot.

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But why would anyone hunt so recklessly, right in the midst of a heavily reported wildlife crisis? In a measured response, Belinda Wright, executive director, Wildlife Protection Society of India, says: "Someone of his education and eminence should be setting an example. Of all people, Pataudi should be aware of the law." Especially after that blood-spattered day in Kashmir in 1997 where he and wife Sharmila went bird-hunting and after the 1998 black buck killing involving son Saif. Says Naresh Kadyan, who heads the Haryana chapter of People for Animals: "We've been trying to catch him for the last seven years. He has hunted in Siwana for years, from black partridge in winters, to hares and black buck."

Pataudi's response was to abscond, while his friends called the Congress high command for help (Pataudi had unsuccessfully contested the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat in 1991).But that didn't work out. Says a senior minister: "It's shocking that such educated people can't follow this country's laws." Kadyan, who exposed the incident, claims he was offered money to back down. When nothing worked, Pataudi went into hiding in a state house of a senior Punjab Congress leader, wrote a columnist in a national newspaper.

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Who is this man? What explains this behaviour? Ashok Kumar, senior advisor and trustee, Wildlife Trust of India, labels Pataudi's condition as "shikaar ka nasha", a killing high. After all, he was introduced to hunting early. "I learnt to ride and shoot fairly early," Pataudi told Outlook Traveller. "It was a rite of manhood—as soon as a boy was able to stand, he'd be saddled on a horse. We'd start off on small ponies and go round in circles, learning to lead with the correct foot."

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Mansur Ali Khan's father Iftikhar Ali Khan was never much of a hunter. The hunting gene came from the mother's side. At 16, Pataudi was taken for his first hunt by his maternal grandfather Hamidullah Khan, the nawab of Bhopal, in the jungles of Khajuri in MP. One clean shot from a 240 mm rifle, and he had killed his first tiger. An impressed grandpa gifted him a super-premium Holland & Holland rifle.

Visit Ahmedabad House at Bhopal, or Pataudi's palace at Chiklod, 43 km from Bhopal, and the celebration of hunting is striking. The Bhopal house has nine sambhar heads, three cheetal heads, two chinkara and deer trophies, one bison head and five wild buffalo heads. The staircase railing in the Chiklod palace is entirely made of sambhar antlers: a hundred of them. Of course, Pataudi didn't shoot them, but only the blind would miss the great hunting tradition of the Bhopal royal family.

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Pataudi's nephew Saad Bin Jung, who says hunting is immoral and should be punished, believes Pataudi gave it up after the Wildlife (Protection) Act was promulgated in 1972. "The issue of shooting ducks in Kashmir is irrelevant as he was there as a state guest and only partaking in a sport along with other invited guests. I do not believe he hunts any longer." His uncle is being done grave injustice, he feels, but Pataudi will recover. Tiger, he says, sees humour in every aspect of life: "This time, knowing that he is not guilty but the target of media hype, it will be his sense of humour that will see him through."

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Most people think otherwise. One media report stated the slain black buck had left behind an fawn. And here Tiger's reputation gets much-needed defence from the unlikeliest quarter. Says Kadyan: "If there was a fawn, @#%&* Pataudi would not have left it alive." And that's the last condemning compliment the Noob might get, as the shame spreads.

Pramila N. Phatarphekar with G. Rajaraman

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