Chronicles of the columnist: gift cheques, autographs, election tickets and Azhar's magic wand.
Your columnist begins to get the heebie-jeebies whenever he is told that he is “the best man for the job”. For years, his bosses have used this line to get him to do things no one else in the team would. For lack of ability, say the bosses; for lack of interest, suspects your columnist. Thus, he was there when a well-known politician, whose face bears an uncanny resemblance to an egg wearing spectacles, announced a business venture and slipped a Rs 500 gift cheque between the sheets of the handout. He covered the price war in women’s sanitary towels a few years ago. For the next few days, he had to respond to male colleagues who kept asking him — in unnecessarily loud voices — the prices of various brands. But there was one such assignment that he does not regret.
Mohammad Azharuddin wanted to meet us to talk about a cricket academy he was setting up. Our newspaper would not make much space for the copy, so yours truly was declared the best man for the job. This was towards the end of the 1990s and Azhar was out of the team. Still, at the end of the interview, this writer said he would, in his individual capacity, like Azhar’s autograph. That remains one of only two autographs this writer has taken and he is not chary of admitting it. Azhar the batsman, when in flow, was a sight for the gods.
There is the story of this domestic cricket stalwart who once fielded in the slips all day as Azhar batted. And he counts it among the finest days of his playing career. In Azhar’s hand, the bat was more a wand. He could pick any ball, irrespective of its speed, trajectory, turn and where it pitched, and caress it to the leg-side boundary. He was the artist in a world inhabited largely by artisans. He is quite a Shakespearean hero, too, finishing with 99 Tests, despite scoring a century in his last innings, as he was charged with fixing matches.
At 46, he has just started the second innings of his life, having joined the Congress and obtained a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Moradabad. Curiously, a bunch of former cricketers is in the fray from various places: Madan Lal (Una), Chetan Sharma (Faridabad), N S Sidhu (Amritsar) and Chetan Chauhan (East Delhi).
One cannot say whether cricketers offer any special qualities for which the voters should pick them. For that matter, few candidates do, irrespective of their vocation. At least, knowing the nature of politics, whether or not Azhar fixed matches, it may not be counted against him in his new career.
