He
was
the
undisputed
'Nawab'
of
Indian
cricket
but
Mansur
Ali
Khan
Pataudi
could
also
play
tabla,
harmonium
and
flute
and
was
equally
sporting
on
the
dance
floor
with
his
'hiran
dance'
as
good
as
any
present-day
item
number,
says
his
wife
Sharmila
Tagore.
"When
I
think
back
on
some
of
Tiger's
attitudes,
actions
and
reactions
that
were
so
uniquely
his
own,
I
realise
how
he
was
an
excellent
mix
of
multiple
cultural
influences," Tagore
writes
in
the
foreword
of
"Pataudi:
Nawab
of
Cricket",
an
anthology
of
essays
on
the
late
cricketer,
published
by
HarperCollins.
Tagore
also
says
that
punctuality
was
another
virtue
which
she
had
to
learn
very
quickly
after
her
marriage
to
him.
"The
only
Bengali
sentence
he
learnt
to
say
was
'Tumi
jodi
poneroh
minute-er
modhe
toiri
na
howe,
tahole
kintu
ami
chole
jabo'
(If
you
don't
get
ready
in
15
minutes,
I
am
leaving)
and
that's
precisely
what
he
did,"
she
recalls.
Pataudi's
father
introduced
him
to
the
richness
and
beauty
of
Indian
classical
music
and
at
his
behest,
he
learnt
to
play
the
flute,
the
harmonium
and
the
tabla.
Tiger
had
also
great
dancing
skills.
"Whenever
the
family
got
together,
Tiger
regaled
us
with
his
'hiran
dance',
which
could
compete
with
any
present-day
item
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
Begum
Ahktar.
He
was
equally
sporting
on
the
dance
floor
if
Harry
Belafonte
or
Ella
Fitzgerald
were
belting
out
their
numbers,"
she
writes.
On
her
association
with
Tiger,
she
writes,
"I
had
loved
Tiger
for
47
years,
was
married
to
him
for
almost
43.
We
didn'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
always
surprised
me,
given
that
he
spent
most
of
his
youth
away
from
parental
proprieties.
There
was
a
time
in
my
life
when
I
used
the
word
'crap'
regularly
and
unthinkingly.
One
day
he
asked
me,
'But
do
you
know
what
it
means?'
"And
I
must
tell
you,
I
stopped
using
it
almost
instantly
on
discovering
that
minor
detail.
He
would
allow
himself
an
'O
Christ!'
in
moments
of
surprise
and
exasperation.
That
was
the
most
extreme
expression
of
dissatisfaction
I
heard
through
all
our
years
together,"
she
says.
The
book
also
has
essays
by
Pataudi's
daughters
Saba
and
Soha
Ali
Khan
besides
a
host
of
cricketers
and
writers.