In Conversation - PoP Quiz time!!

BOOM… BANTER… REPEAT!!! The Pride of Palladian Takes the Hot Seat

Every cricketing community has its legends. Some score centuries, some bowl unplayable deliveries, and some turn a dodgy wide into a constitutional crisis.

And then there is Arjun.

Tall, lanky, armed with a long handle capable of sending a tennis ball into orbit, and a leg-spinner whose deliveries occasionally surprise even himself, Arjun wears many hats: cricketer, organiser, walking encyclopaedia of Palladian, and the Maidaan's unofficial peacekeeper. He also has a curious talent for starting a fight and then turning up to negotiate peace.

Known as the Pride of Palladian, he has spent years bringing people together and documenting their cricketing heroics, embarrassing dismissals and occasional delusions of greatness through this very blog.

So we decided it was time to turn the tables. Eight questions, no appeals to the umpire, and absolutely no blaming Samir Mishra. (Read till the end for the context.)

Let's hear it from the man himself.

1. A tall, lanky leg-spinner with a long handle that can send the ball into orbit. Tell us, Arjun, was this combination of leg-spin wizardry and six-hitting prowess God-given talent, or just the advantage of having longer levers than the rest of us?

I think sport, as in life, is all about mindset. Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except the best.

Coming to the skill itself, the leg spin started at a time when I felt that was a better use of energy than bowling off a full run-up. It seemed different, and it was working. The batting is pure limitation. When I see how well some of our best batters hit the ball, with feet, head and swing in cohesion, I tell myself that the runs against your name matter the most.

2. Who, according to you, is the best bowler and the best batsman in Palladian today? Also, who is the most overrated cricketer?

The best cricketer in our group needs no more adjectives to describe what he can do. The funny thing is, I tell myself I am as good as him, and that has made me eat humble pie more often than I can remember.

The best bowler in my mind, and this will be a surprise to a lot of people, is Satya. He takes his art seriously, still practises by bowling all alone at a set of stumps, and is always thinking of inventive ways to outwit the batter. But the most endearing aspect of his game is his passion. I don't think anyone comes even remotely close, and that helps him stay at his best.

The best batsman is a tough one, as we have a lot of deserving choices. Hari looks the prettiest, Anshul now bats like he was born to do this, Susmit is pure and technical, Harsha does things which you truly appreciate when you play on his team, and there is Samir, who has won more games chasing under pressure than anyone else. But my choice is going to be Eshaan. He is literally showing us what youth and talent can do. And he is only getting started.

Overrated is a tough one. I think Vikram. He is just too distracted. So let's hope this changes something.

3. What's more satisfying, deceiving a batsman with a perfectly flighted googly or launching one over the swimming pool? And which of the two do you reckon we fear more?

Let's get one thing out in the open. I can't bowl a googly. At best, it's a ball that doesn't spin, and I don't think I can control it enough to go straight. So when it lands and hits the wicket, which is rare, I do tell myself, "Can I do it again?"

But let's not kid ourselves now. Smoking sixes is what I visualise even before I come to bat. And hitting them as long as I can makes me super happy. I even tell my trainer the next day and credit him for it.

I think no bowler likes getting hit over their heads, and I have this habit of reminding them where I hit it, too, which I am certain they don't like very much.

4. You were famously christened the Pride of Palladian because you seemingly knew everything about everyone and everything happening here. Do you still think you are the Pride of Palladian? If not, who has taken over the title?

I honestly don't even recollect how I got attached to this name. I believe having fun and living your life without taking things too seriously is the best way to be. I have never seen myself as someone who has done much for a group of people or a community.

Then, strangely, at Palladian, moving in as one of the first residents put some of us in a position to make a difference. And having fun while doing it was a super heady mix. Our cricket at the Maidaan, if you ask me, was just an extension of that.

The group of us who started playing in 2019 never possibly thought we would still play every weekend and behave in the exact same way, weekend after weekend, for seven straight years. And my pride is mostly for that. The fact that we created something we can take to our graves.

I don't plan to hand over the title to anyone. Sorry!!

5. When tempers flare over a dodgy umpiring decision, a questionable wide or a spectacularly misplaced ego, you often step in to restore order. What's your secret formula for getting grown men to behave like grown men again?

I need to squarely blame Samir Mishra for this. He was the one who made me believe that I have some great responsibility towards restoring order. Considering how many fights I instigate myself and wash my hands of, it's surprising anyone even thinks that I can sort an argument.

But jokes apart, the one golden rule at the Maidaan has always been to trash-talk someone you know fairly well. Someone you can apologise to later and forget about everything else. While it's totally fine to get personal, also make sure you are ready to receive it back with interest.

6. Behind the towering sixes, the leg-spin and the reputation of knowing everything, there's a gentler side to you. What's something about yourself that we would be genuinely surprised to discover?

Wow, this is a real googly now. Someone asked me if I was always extroverted. I think the truth is that I am an introvert for the most part, but add me to this mix of friends I call brothers, and I feel I am in a multiverse.

7. You've spent considerable time documenting the cricketing exploits, eccentricities and occasional embarrassments of your fellow Palladians. What inspired you to start the blog: a love for the game and its people, a passion for storytelling, or the realisation that writing about everyone else is the safest way to protect your own reputation?

I have to give credit for the blog to AK. He was the first author/writer among us. He would write his pieces, unfortunately, only for the Sunday games, even back then. So if you did not perform that day and had a great Saturday, it really mattered for nothing. And AK had this very simple and honest writing style, but the effect it had on the group and how everyone identified with it made me think.

That's how the idea of the blog really came up. My initial thought was to get everyone to write, but clearly, apart from a few guest pieces by Chaitanya and Shiten, not many have bothered to contribute. But since I was not ready to let my idea die, I kept at it. And today we have over 100 pieces that we all, when we turn 60, will reminisce about.

8. If someone were to write an unfiltered Palladian blog post about Arjun, what would the headline be? And would you let it go live without editing a single word, or would the Pride of Palladian suddenly discover that even he has a few things he'd rather keep off the record?

BOOM…BANTER….REPEAT!!!

…So there you have it. The man can't bowl a googly, refuses to surrender his title, and has admitted that the Maidaan's chief peacekeeper occasionally starts the very fights he is supposed to settle. 

But beneath the banter lies something special. Arjun has helped build a community, and with over a hundred blog posts, he has preserved the friendships, rivalries and glorious absurdities that make Palladian cricket about far more than cricket.

Years from now, when the sixes get shorter and the arguments shift from wides to something else, these stories will still be here.

Here's to Arjun: the leg-spinner, the long-handle specialist, the organiser, the occasional troublemaker and the undisputed defender of his own crown.

BOOM… BANTER… REPEAT!!!.........And Vikram, please concentrate this weekend.