Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore recently engaged with teachers and principals of Delhi University during a book launch event in the city. Recollecting her college days, Tagore spoke about a new habit she has adopted – writing letters to her granddaughter – and shared some heartwarming anecdotes from her love story with Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.
During the discussion, Tagore shared Inaya’s reaction to receiving her first letter. She said, “When Soha opened that (first) letter, the joy on that little girl’s face and her expression made me so happy. So, I continued writing to her.”
Tagore also reminisced about her connection to Miranda House during the event. Invited by Miranda House Principal Bijayalaxmi Nanda, Tagore shared, “I came to Delhi in 1984 when amma, my mother-in-law, was ill. I had heard of Miranda House even before then, and I had heard about all those very bright women. And because the principal has so much to do with it, and you’re the principal now, when I received the invitation from you, I couldn’t say no. I just had to come and get this Mirandian experience.”
Speaking fondly of her relationship with Pataudi, Tagore recalled the challenges of long-distance communication before the era of mobile phones. “I didn’t have a telephone, and I used to go to Raj Singh’s house – a wonderful friend of Tiger and mine. I used to go to his house and wait for a call at 1am. Sometimes, the phone would ring, and I would urgently pick it up, and someone at the other end would hear a female voice and quickly hang up. Those operators were very much a part of our love story. Maybe we should have invited them to our wedding,” she joked.
Tagore also expressed her love for handwritten letters, referring to Bijayaalaxmi Nanda’s book about letters. “Letters are wonderful. I’ve started writing letters to Soha’s daughter Inaya, and when Soha opened that letter, the joy on that little girl’s face and that expression made me so happy. She writes back, and Soha takes a photograph of it and sends it to me, not the real letter. Those letters are kept somewhere for me to see someday. If I live that long and Inaya is of a certain age, then we can compare those letters and relive those moments. When I was writing to Tiger – that way, I think technology is wonderful – it took a couple of weeks to get back,” Tagore shared.