ABOUT THIS BOOK
His autobiography is like him, no holds barred and a racy read that
makes us feel ‘wish we had a life like this’.
—Sunil Gavaskar
In its broad, multifaceted sweep of events from his birth in Mumbai’s
poverty-stricken Madanpura to a father who started life as an orphan
and a mother from a penurious family, Khalid Ansari’s life has been an
enjoyable and purposeful journey in service of his fellow human beings. In
this ‘donkey’s tale—upar wala meherbaan to gadha pehelwaan(When God
smiles kindly, the donkey thinks he’s a wrestler)’, Ansari has endeavoured
to capture some highlights of a splendoured life which he has been blessed
to live, catching stars while chasing rainbows.
From starting newspapers and magazines; representing his country at the
United Nations; accompanying dignitaries on state visits; covering cricket
Test matches, nine Olympics, Commonwealth and Asian Games; travelling
the world; being honoured with the Padma Shri award—it’s been indeed
la vie en rose.
In this memoir, the author has been at pains to prevent this from deteriorating
into a ‘I-did-this-did-that’-pat-himself, shabash!’ hagiography or a dry-as-dust pontificaltome, by ‘spicing’ it up with dollops of frothy anecdotes and
self-critical bon mots even as he has attempted a discourse on the purpose
of life, the ‘right path’ and the like.
Since charity and service to humankind are now the author’s obsession
post retirement, he has also dwelt at some length upon his private, self-funded charitable foundation and on giving away whatever little material
possessions his wife Zeyna and he have acquired in his lifetime.
AUTHOR OF THE BOOK
Khalid A-H Ansari has a bachelor’s degree in Law (L.L.B.), a master’s degree
(M.A.) in Political Science from Mumbai University and master’s degree
(M.A.) in Journalism and Mass Communication from Stanford University,
California, USA. In 2012, he retired as founder-chairman of Mid-Day
Multimedia Ltd, which published Asia’s leading afternoon newspaper, in two
languages from Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Pune. Sunday MIDDAY
and The InquilabUrdu Daily was started by his late freedom fighter father
Abdul Hamid Ansari in 1937.
After returning to India after his studies in the US, he started the Sportsweek
magazine, which went on to become India’s leading sports magazine. At
the time of his retirement, Khalid A-H Ansariwas also the chairman of
M.C. Media Ltd, whose activities included FM Radio broadcasting (a joint
venture with the BBC, London) in eight Indian cities.
Some highlights of his career include being conferred with Padma Shri
for ‘distinguished services to literature and journalism’ by President
K.R. Narayanan in 2001, being a member of the official Indian delegation
to the United Nations General Assembly in New York and Geneva in
1989, covering the Kargil war in 1999, the Fiji coup in 2000, the NAM
conference in Harare and CHOGM summit in the Bahamas, in 1985,
covering various foreign visits of presidents A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Giani
Zail Singh and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and prime ministers Rajiv Gandhi
and Atal Bihari Vajpayee and covering the Olympic Games in Munich ’72,
Montreal ’76, Moscow ’80, Los Angeles ’84, Seoul ’88, Atlanta ’96, Sydney
2000, Athens ’04 and Beijing ’08.
Khalid is the author of Sachin: Born to Bat, Reliance World Cup, Champions
of One Day Cricket and Cricket at Fever Pitch. He and his wife Zeyna started
and run the private, self-financed Khalid and Zeyna Ansari Foundation,
which funds social-welfare initiatives for the girlchild (higher education,
vocational training, nursing, computer training and hotel management) in
slums and depressed sections of society. It is also involved in animal welfare
and funds cancer and hearing impairment treatment.
