Two Lives

MONTY PANESAR
His website has been announced though the link is still not operational, but the “first Sikh England cricketer”, at the age of 25, is ready with his autobiography. Titled Monty’s Turn: My Story So Far, it is presumably the first of many memoirs. Luton-born Mudhsuden Singh ‘Monty’ Panesar has already been part of many cricketing turnarounds with his left-arm spin. More interestingly, in the cause of cheerful multiculturalism, his winning ways have brought excitement into the stands, with enthusiastic English fans regularly turning up for Test matches sporting black patkas and fake beards. Incidentally, that story may have to be updated sooner than his publishers may have expected. Panesar excited the cricketing world last summer by speaking of his work on developing a left-hand doosra. India, who begin their Test tour this month, must hope they don’t find too many surprises.

RAGEH OMAAR
Omaar, a Briton of Somalian descent, attained a rockstar kind of following during the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. His dispatches for the BBC from the rooftop of his Baghdad hotel — in the days preceding the “shock and awe” campaign and thereafter until the invaders finally made it through desert storms and unexpected resistance to take the Iraqi capital — gained iconic status. Middle-aged women in London at the time would be seen with Rageh T-shirts! His recent autobiography, Only Half of Me: Being a Muslim in Britain, talks about reconciling his ethnic heritage with life in his adopted country. In the years since the Iraq war, he has also expressed regret that he did not do more stories at that stage from the perspective of the Iraqi people. He left the BBC to do broadcasting for Al Jazeera’s English service.