The Nawab wasn’t always able to remember match statistics, but “had clearer memories of the chicanery of the officials and how the selectors had played regressive politics with the team”. The chapters on the late Tiger Pataudi, the result of hours spent with the “childhood hero”, are insightful for the rare, candid impressions of the “reluctant cricketer” who became captain at 21. Joining the Express sports desk in Chandigarh led to tours for league matches, including in militancy-hit Punjab with its horrors of violence, but the monotony finally made Magazine shift and submit to the Delhi grind. The incident concerning a particular Punjab PRO, though, can only draw bewilderment.Īlong with ample fresh perspective on the greats, be it Kapil Dev or Gavaskar, Tendulkar or Dravid, and their chemistry or at times the lack of it, the admiration for the likes of the intrepid Bishan Bedi, the hugely gifted Viv Richards, the giant of a man and the game Clive Lloyd, and a whole range of the champion set shines through. Candour marks the recall of familiar and not-so-familiar names, forgotten episodes are narrated with wonderment, like packed stadiums for matches between Amritsar’s DAV College boasting of the Amarnath brothers and Hindu College that had Madan Lal.
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Here, too, cricket holds the patterns of life together. The father’s transfer, much before the exodus of Pandits, took the family to Yamunanagar, Panipat, and another hotspot in the making, Amritsar. The suffering and pain of the Kashmiri Pandits, the alienation of the majority Muslims, and a Parvez Rasool donning the India cap - in his impassioned writing lurks perhaps an innate desire to find his own quiet corner under a composite Srinagar sun. In his frequent trips, nostalgia is tinged with a quest to make sense of the ferocity of the communal winds and the fragility of the social fabric that was torn apart. Only his early years were spent in not yet strife-torn Srinagar, yet Kashmir has a rooted presence in Magazine’s life. Amid the difficult conversations, the Gita, Gandhi and Manto are endearing accompaniments. Sobbing, he likened it to the greatest events in Indian history.”Ĭricket is the glue that binds the book as it tries to untangle, through the author’s lived and shared experiences, the complex strands of identity, caste, class, minority anguish, majoritarianism, the hatred for the other, nationalism, Pakistan. The magic of the medium comes alive in his vivid recollection: “It was around 3 am in 1971 when the commentator Ravi Chaturvedi broke down on the radio at the moment of India’s first-ever Test victory in the West Indies.
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iStockĭoing radio commentary was where Magazine felt equally at home, but the inconsiderate treatment despite the appreciatory feedback he got decades back still rankles. It exudes warmth, much like the eminent journalist himself. ‘Not Just Cricket’ is fascinating for what it sets out to achieve, refreshing for inter-play of the on-field and off-field worlds of Indian cricket and cricketers, exciting for the insights, honest for its reflections.
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Pradeep Magazine’s memoir is remarkable for the reservoir of personal and cricketing moments it manages to extract and the socio-political landscape it traverses, as he juxtaposes his own journey with that of the sport, and the country itself. IN cricket as in life, the late Richie Benaud’s comment, in all likelihood said half in jest, carries a lot of weight: “The slow-motion replay doesn’t show how fast the ball was really travelling.” Looking back, the layered reality may not present the real picture.