Sharmila Tagore steps in to settle property row

BHOPAL: Her sense of dressing still intact — clad in a chiffon saree and draping a shawl the wife in mourning - Begum Sharmila Tagore - has taken the initiative to bring together the family, resolve property disputes and ensure the legacy of her cricketing husband. A response to the probing question ‘What are you here for?’, was instantly replied by the beautiful Begum in her emblematic style , “I have taken the initiative to resolve the family disputes. Insha' Allah we will achieve our goals,” said the Begum wife of lateMansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. Staying alone for the first time in the Sarf-e-Khas ‘Flag staff house’, Tagore is reportedly trying her best to resolve disputes over properties of the Nawab of Bhopal. She met Patuadi’s elder sister Saleha Sultan on Wednesday morning, while awaiting the arrival of younger sister Sabiha Sultan’s husband Arjuman Ali Khan.The two-time National Film Award winner said, “The younger generation wants a resolution of the property disputes, so they can move on.” Simultaneously, hinting that the role of her daughter Saba Sultan is limited as the head of Mutawalli Auqaf-e-Shahi (Custodian of the Royal Waqf) properties and her actor children Saif and Soha Ali Khan would have their say in matters of private properties belonging to the Patuadi family.Almost three months after her husband’s death, Sharmila Tagore is quite excited about the plan of the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) to hold Pataudi Memorial Lecture and she has got few names in her mind from the cricketing fraternity too, who could be most suited to speak on the subject.“Yes, I would like to suggest few names like Mike Brearley, Ted Dexter (both former England skipper) or Ian Chappell (former Australia skipper),” Sharmila answers when it is asked who she would like to lecture in the Pataudi Memorial Lecture.Nearly 60 years after the Bhopal’s Nawabi rule ended, destiny has placed upon Begum Sharmila Tagore, the task to take the initiative and redress the property disputes and maintain the royal tradition.