masaba richards
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But years later, when she came to meet her half-brother Mali Richards for the first time, it was a quiet solemn affair.
The two first met at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) last week, when Masaba came to meet him accompanied by singer Asha Bhonsale.
“It felt great meeting my brother for the first time,” says Masaba, who almost missed the opportunity of a meeting with her brother, currently on his first visit to Mumbai. “I didn’t know that Mali was in Mumbai. I read about it in the newspapers.
At first, I thought it might not be possible to meet him and maybe I should meet him some other time when my dad was around. But then my mother called Ashaji and arranged for us to meet,” says Masaba, who admits she was quite nervous about their meeting. “But when we started talking there was no awkwardness.”
But by the time they met for the second time yesterday evening at the CCI, the bonhomie was rather apparent from the flow of their conversation.
While Masaba chattered away to Mali about how she celebrated Holi with her friends, he was telling her about his day at training while they were making plans about which club they should hang out together.
“We are similar people. We really get along well,” says Masaba who studies under the International Baccalaureate at Jamnabai Narsee School.
Though she says she never really kept in touch with her siblings in the West Indies, she says, “Lately, we’ve been talking to each other. I have been calling Mali now and then.”
All said and done, she is quite happy that she took the initiative to go and meet him. “Now that we’ve met, it will be easier to keep in touch. It’s quite tough to keep in touch with my dad because he is always travelling and now I can keep in touch with him through Mali,” she smiles.
