Bibliofile

Apart from politicians, cricketers are a superstitious lot. Some cricketers, according to Roli's sumptuous trivia-packed picturebook, India-Pakistan Cricketing Ties—Neighbour's Pride, refuse to shave in the midst of a good run, while others wear the same unwashed pants for several matches for fear of washing away their luck. The captain leads his team: from the red kerchief tucked into his pocket for luck to wearing the number 99 (for fielding) and 24 (for batting) to keeping media manager Amrit Mathur away from the changing room (because a wicket fell each time he was in the room!), Saurav Ganguly takes no chances with fickle fortune, including carrying a photograph of his guruji when playing. Sachin Tendulkar is no less: he always straps on his left pad first, used to run off with Anil Kumble's sweater and hand it to the umpire for luck and when he was captain refused to take off his playing gear even after his dismissal.

Bibliofile's item on Nobel nominees elicited a protest from Khushwant Singh. Why only Nobel nominees, he wanted to know. "What about those who actually announced they had won the prize." Among those he cited for prematurely claiming the title was a former governor, Gopal Singh, who translated the Sikh scriptures. So convinced was he of his own claim to the prize, he even had it announced on air!