Genius in the time of hate and bloodshed
Interview: Sheela Bhatt
Could you tell us something of the history of your family?
Mehboob Khan: My father Sher Jaman Ibrahim Khan and my maternal grandfather Yusuf Abdulla Khan migrated a few months before Independence from the Manshera district of Pakistan. In Baroda, they worked in the Jamma Masjid, a 400-year-old mosque and the biggest in this city, as muezzin.
I studied only up to the 10th standard. By the time I was 15, I was sweeping and cleaning the mosque where my father lived; I also had a job
in Sarabhai Chemicals, where I served for 35 years, mostly working the late evening and night shifts.
After my first wife died, I remarried 28 years ago. All my life, I've worked on the factory floor and in my mornings, I cleaned the mosque --
a job that could take up to three hours. When I started at Sarabhai I was earning Rs 500; when I left, 35 years later, I was earning Rs 5,000.
My sons got attracted to cricket by the time they were 10, so another routine was added, of giving them a ride to the maidan on my cycle. One brother would sit in front and the other at the back -- and they would go to the maidan no matter what the weather, summer or winter.
We knew it wasn't easy to get into the national team, but we had faith in Allah. I took the boys to a local coach Mehandi Sheikh, who charged Rs 20 per student. The boys were so fond of the game that invariably, they were the first to reach the ground -- and since no one else was around, they would bat and bowl against each other till the rest turned up, mostly after 5 pm when it was cooler.
I always lived in hope; I always thought one day, Allah would reward me. When my sons began playing cricket, my only wish was they should play well, get the country a good name. I used to tell them to look at Sachin (Tendulkar), to play like him. 'Apna aur desh ka naam roshan karo (Make yourself and the nation proud),' I always told them.
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