Celebrity Bites -Khalid Ansari
Khalid Ansari
Dapper, elegant dresser, well-mannered, a gentleman, true journalist, are some adjectives assigned to the evergreen sports-loving, ex-newspaper baron, Khalid Ansari. Ticking off all boxes, we can also state that his exuberant zest for life remains undiminished. Also, that he just launched his memoir, It’s a Wonderful World!
Text: Farzana Contractor
Photographs: Vijay Barathe
Location: Fenix, The Oberoi, Mumbai
So, how do you feel, where you are now?
You mean with the memoir being out? Great! Honestly. I am happy, it’s been received so well. Just this morning, former Minister of External Affairs, Mr Natwarlal Singh called to say how much he is enjoying reading it. Appreciation always makes one feel good. I am grateful to God.
And what about life… generally speaking, where you are now?
Content. I am content. I have received so much from life that I can’t be any other way. I have been showered with untold blessings.
But you worked hard for it.
Oh yes, absolutely. From being raised by a father who himself was orphaned when he was just 10 and a simple mother, who did all she could to raise me as well as she could, with penury sitting at the doorstep, to me finding my way to Stanford University in USA, in the face of all odds, coming home to take charge of Inquilab and then starting Sportsweek and Mid-Day… yes, I have seen the tough side of life too.
Sports held you in good stead. And cricket, of course, was and is your mainstay in life...
True, my passion turned into my raison d’etre. From playing cricket as a tiny tot in Badak Gully, near Nagpada, where I grew up, to reaching a stage where I not only covered cricket matches all over the world, but became friends with legends like Sunil Gavaskar and many others, was like a dream unfolding.
Did you have many dreams?
One, which gave me the miss! I always wanted to be a pilot!
Oh really, why did you swerve away?
Because a hajam (barber) only knows how to cut hair, my dear! I took after my father, became a journalist.
We are glad for that. Mid-Day would not have been born, if not.
Yes, it was great running that great paper. But all good things come to an end.
But you did enough. Ran the newspaper for so many years, covered nine Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian games, Test Matches and what not. You even edited Khaleej Times in Dubai. Now with all that in the past, you must be resting on your laurels, living it up?
I have to reluctantly acknowledge I have finally retired. Now, I indulge in another passion of mine, travel. Wanderlust was always a big bug in me! Started at St. Xavier’s, when we would go on study tours all over India, sleeping on the floors of the 3rd-class railway compartments and staying in cramped hotel rooms… Ah, such good memories, those.
But now, it’s different. Zeyna, your wife and you have done some serious travelling, luxuriously at that!
That’s true. Uparwale ki meherbani…We have been on 30 ocean and river cruises, among our travels. We like being on the water. Alaska, Scandinavia, Russia, Singapore, Maldives…
So which are your favourite destinations?
South of Europe, for sure, Italy, Spain, France. Oh yes, the Carribeans, love it there! Africa, I have never taken to. I like Australia, too, I spent a great many years in and out of it.
Guess it’s simpler to ask where in the world have you not been?
Antarctica!
And food, are you fond of it?
I would not call myself a gourmet, but yes, food has its moments.
Favourite cuisine being?
Indian; dal-chawal-bhindi being at the top!
That’s it!?
Okay, I like Mughlai, too. And Parsi food. And Bohri food. We just had a seven-course thali dinner served at home. From The Bohri Kitchen. It was good.
What about day-to-day eating?
Surprisingly, we don’t have a kitchen at home. I mean we have one, but it’s not used. We have a veg tiffin which comes in for lunch, and dinner is usually a takeaway from some good restaurant, or we land up at one of the clubs, Bombay Gym or CCI...
Hmmm, now that’s something. Eating simplified. Don’t you go to restaurants?
Actually, very infrequently. The tastiest food is in the dhabas and hole-in-the-wall places, and hygiene there worries us. Though I must confess Zeyna can be quite the sport there.
Been there, done that. Any regrets?
Yes, one. And I am not saying this because I am speaking to you just now. But I do wish I had never let Behram go out of my life. Hand on my heart. And I do miss him very much.
