The United Nations or UN is the world’s most chattering club. Prolix, uninspiring and poorly delivered speeches are an assault on the patience of the delegates who are condemned to listen to these verbal inflictions. Exactly 50 years ago, I joined the Permanent Mission of India to the UN in New York. My first job was to sit in the General Assembly Hall to take down the salient points made by the “distinguished speakers”. As a newcomer I was diligent. From time to time, Virasat Kidwai, my senior colleague, would join me. One day after listening to two or three monotonous disquisitions, he decided to call it a day. Enough, he told me. “You can’t do that. We are paid to listen to these speeches,” I said. Virasat’s immortal reply was, “Not enough to listen this Khurafat,” after which he walked out.
This year, the annual session of the UN General Assembly began with a bang. US President Barack Obama was the second speaker. He was followed by Mahmoud Abbas, who succeeded in presenting the Palestinians’ bid for statehood. He received a standing ovation. When he left, the General Assembly Hall was almost full. This must have distressed and surprised the supporters of Israel. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also spoke the same day. He made a brilliant, convincing speech. But today his country is isolated. Relations with Turkey have deteriorated. Hosni Mubarak is in prison. It was Mr Abbas’ day — but what next? Full membership is not round the corner. The matter is now being taken up at the Security Council. If there is the slightest possibility of full membership for Palestine, the US will veto any such move or resolution.
- Vasant Sathe was my first ministerial boss. As minister of state for steel, I worked with him for a year. He was different from the run-of-the-mill Indian politician. Mr Sathe was a man of ideas. He had a “crusader” dimension in his character. He wrote a book on black money and how it could be turned into white money. If I remember correctly, he also did a little kite-flying about India going in for a presidential form of government. Neither fructified.
He was an avid reader, enjoyed life and had an engaging personality. A first-rate speaker, he took on V P Singh in the Lok Sabha with determination and vigour. Never pompous, Mr Sathe was excellent company and could be disarmingly charming. He lived long and lived well.
- I claim no intimacy with Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi. I had known him and liked him. He was a born Nawab with the manners of an aristocrat. The two do not always go together.
I was in my third year in St Stephen’s College in Delhi (1951) when his father died while playing polo. My elder brother, Bharat Singh, was also part of that game. He was the first to reach Pataudi Senior, who had died almost instantaneously. It was Tiger Pataudi’s 11th birthday.
Pataudi Senior was a high-class prankster. Soon after Pataudi ceased to be a princely state in 1948, Nawab Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi arrived on a bike at the bungalow of V P Menon, then secretary of the ministry of states under Vallabhbhai Patel. No one took notice of him. He sat on a rickety chair in the verandah. Mr Menon emerged after a short while and, on seeing the Nawab, exclaimed, “Nawab Sahib, I am so sorry, but I was not informed of your arrival.” The Nawab said, “At your house only the carwallahas are recognised. I now only use a bicycle, since you and your ministry have taken away all that I possessed.”
I first set eyes on Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi in 1968. He had led India to victory against New Zealand. I was then working with Indira Gandhi and suggested a reception be held for the victorious team. She graciously agreed. The reception was held at Hyderabad House.
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Tiger Pataudi’s death has been mourned not only in India, but throughout the cricketing world. He deserved this homage.
TAILPIECE
How did the word “America” originate? According to Paul Strathern, author of The Artist, the Philosopher and The Warrior, it is named after Florence Amerigo Vespucci, who crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1502 and discovered the land mass we now call South America. Mr Strathern writes, “It was Amerigo Vespucci’s navigational discovery that caused the new continent to be named America after the Latinised version of his name.”