In this day and age, very few former Test players in Mumbai do not own a car. Kenia Jayantilal (67) is one. That’s why we were in a black and yellow taxi the other night, returning from a function at the Taj where Sir Garfield Sobers was the guest of honour.

Our journey to his Dadar east home gave me an opportunity to make him to recall that famous 1971 tour of the West Indies. He didn’t speak much on the first Test at Kingston, the only time Jayantilal made it in a Test XI, but spoke about other aspects of that series. The opening batsman from Hyderabad was edgy at the start of the tour for a very basic reason: Vegetarian food.