“Without your letter, I would still have been in India, a millionaire with servants and chauffeurs, who turned left when boarding an aeroplane.” And without that letter from the eponymous Mr Crombie, we would not have had more than 50 books on an astonishing array of subjects – sports, history, biographies, finance, politics and, finally, this very honest autobiography, from Mihir Bose.
Bose Da, for I write respectful of my Indian roots, gets straight to the point about what coloured his life from the moment he was born – his unfortunate dark complexion. He writes with no squeamishness about the cruel realities of tradition and rituals in India. Early chapters are an absolute delight as he reminisces about his extended family and growing up in a chaotic household with a hierarchy of servants. It is telling that he uses no euphemisms – there are no domestic helps, just peons, ghattis, sweepers, drivers and cooks. Bose Da presents us his very privileged life in India, warts and all. His gentle and affectionate mocking of his mother’s many Hindu fetishes is endearing, but he has no hesitation in admitting he grew up top dog in a very unfair feudal society.
“Colonialism made us doubt ourselves,” he says. So, validation by the former conquerors was craved, and the Thappa, the stamp of British approval, was needed to seal even a modicum of self-esteem. Why then, having arrived in England and finding himself at the bottom of the pile, with the wrong skin colour, an accent that was mocked, smelling of food that stank, did Bose Da stay?
A dogged determination to fulfil a childhood dream of becoming a writer and a genuine love of sport steeled him against racism – both the unrelenting, covert kind, couched in deadly niceties, interspersed with occasional overt “Paki bashing”, a box to the face, a punch here, a slap there. The second half of the book is an incredible account of rising above it all, writing and broadcasting headline events for every respected paper, radio and TV station in the UK.
Author Maggie O’Farrell: I had a teacher at school who took the register, called my name and said to me, ‘Are your family in the IRA?’
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A moving, relatable telling of the universal hustle, grief and joy of all immigrants – Bose Da has hit a six, straight out of the stadium.
