Writing a memoir was never on my mind. I never thought that I would tell the world my story, yet destiny had some other plans.

I wanted to write on Tiger and some intriguing events from the lives of Saurav Ganguly, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid and some nuggets from my real-life experiences.

The book takes us down memory lane, narrating my childhood in the valley, cricket being my favourite sport, my life as a journalist, the socio-political upheaval at the end of the last century, several dressing room incidents that are unheard of and finally the ugly 'match-fixing' saga.  

The book also details the changes that have occurred in Indian cricket, from Vijay Merchant, the chief selector, who removed Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi from captaincy in 1971 to the Board's tussle with the players over the display of logos on their jerseys in the 1980s.

The book also throws light on the much-talked about love-hate equations between Sunil Gavaskar-Kapil Dev, Mohammad Azharuddin-Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly-Rahul Dravid-Greg Chappel. The book has it all making it an insider account of the dressing room!

This book should not only engage the cricket enthusiasts but also talks about the socio-political dynamics of the country during the time I was growing up and later reporting for various newspapers.

(As told to Sanya Tyagi)

To be continued….