'We have seen it all, the good and the bad'
How has Irfan's success changed things for you? What difference has it made?
Mehboob Khan: Nothing. We haven't changed.
Yusuf Khan: My papa lost his job because of success.
Mehboob Khan: They, the members of the mosque's management team, complain that after Irfan's success I now drive a car, wear a safari suit, give interviews. So let me tell you how my life was, before.
People would be having their afternoon tea, and when I passed by, they would look the other way because they didn't want to share a cup of tea with me. When people ate their food, they would look the other way to avoid me, or tell me to sweep the floor without talking to them.
In the Muslim community, people always share food -- but I was going through bad times, so no one would share their food with me; they treated me like a mere jhadoowala (sweeper).
Throughout his life, my father only wore a lungi -- but now, I am able to wear a safari suit. Whatever food was made for the morning, the leftovers were what we ate in the evening. We have had to eat stale food, and even then we never felt bad.
For years, we did not have a television set at home -- it was when the children began going to the neighbours' homes to watch matches that I bought a set, on Rs 500 installments. Their coach advised me it was good for the children to watch matches.
We have seen it all, the good and the bad, and we don't want to change. I know that in our society, only money talks. If you don't have it, no one will even look at you. Maal hai, to mohabbat hai (If you have money, there is love)!
People who avoided me then salute me now -- but neither I nor my sons have allowed success to change us. I wanted money to paint the mosque; Irfan said Papa, don't ask, please take whatever you need. He gave me Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000) to paint the mosque.
Also read: 'I am khadoos on the field'
Image: Irfan Pathan with admirers at the mosque whose floors his father once swept