So did he or didn’t he? Did he shoot the black buck or simply frighten it to death? Was M.A.K. Pataudi “unofficially comfortable” in jail or did he languish there for two nights without even relatives to visit him? According to his begum, the incident had brought the family closer together than ever before. According to other sources, she’s a thorn in his side. Who to believe?

Whatever the truth, you have to admit, ole Tiger could fill in for a stand-up comic. And if you think his recent run-in with the law is anything to roar over, you ain’t heard anythin’ yet. There’s more. Listen.

The chief editor of Roli Books is an old friend of mine. And I’m not just showing off. She despises my lifestyle; I loathe hers ? that’s how close we are. But our finest hours together are spent in laughing at that most difficult, exasperating, moody and attractive species of human being ? the writer.

Her latest yarn (Renuka doesn’t lie any oftener than I do, so you’d better believe it) was about not so much the writer as one of his subjects. Wildlife conservationist Saad Bin Jung had written a book under Roli’s aegis, she told me. “Good book?” I asked her, always alert to literature on our dumb chums. “Never mind the book,” she said, “you should read the foreword. It’s by the Nawab of Pataudi. And you should read what Saad says about him elsewhere.”

The book, Wild Tales From The Wild, recalls an incident when the writer, a nephew of the Nawab, accompanied his famous uncle on a shikar. The older man had apparently feasted harder at a jungle picnic than was wise, and was required to relieve himself. Having removed his trousers and folded them neatly on a tree, he squatted to complete the job ? when the party noticed that a tiger had crept up on them unnoticed. So great was Pataudi’s fright, he abandoned both the task ahead of him, and his apparel, and ran ? pantless, so to speak ? to the jeep. His nephew remained behind, helpless with laughter at the sight of that heroic backside vanishing into the gloom.

As Renuka was Saad Bin Jung’s editor, she noticed that the writer had omitted to say what became of the tiger or assign any reason for its not attacking, so she interpolated into the text words to the effect that the animal may have also seen the funny side of things and decided to go in peace.

It was sporting of Pataudi to allow his nephew his memories. At the book launch, I’m told, he took the stage with no little pride. And spoke with considerable feeling. About wildlife.