A half smoked cigar of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is the most precious memento that Judy, wife of Indian team coach Greg Chappell, is carrying from her Pakistan visit.
"I picked up the cigar with a tissue paper and am carrying it with me to India," the affable Judy disclosed.
"I have a scrapbook in Bangalore that I have been maintaining since arriving in India(with Chappell in May last year). I am going to put the cigar in my scrapbook," she said looking visibly thrilled.
Judy met Musharraf when the Indian and Pakistani teams were invited to the President's House in Islamabad on Friday for a reception. She again met him when he visited the Gaddafi Stadium to watch the third one-day international in Lahore Monday.
It was during one of these meetings that Musharraf left his cigar in the ashtray and apparently forgot about it. An alert Judy saw it and chanced upon it after he left the scene for good.
This again proves that memento keepers have a knack for picking up unusual things. A similar event, again concerning an Australian, happened a few years ago.
An Australian teenaged girl who had gone to watch a Test match that Australia played at home picked up a chewing gum that was thrown near the boundary line by then captain and renowned batsman Mark Taylor.
{{/usCountry}}An Australian teenaged girl who had gone to watch a Test match that Australia played at home picked up a chewing gum that was thrown near the boundary line by then captain and renowned batsman Mark Taylor.
{{/usCountry}}She saw Taylor, who usually chewed gum like many other batsmen while batting, spitting the gum when he was returning to the pavilion after being dismissed. She quickly grabbed the chewing gum and took it home.
It was rare for a cricket fanatic to pick up a used chewing gum and keep it as a memento. But then, some people would go to any length to collect mementoes and souvenirs!