On cue

Mehta arrives early for our appointment,abandoning his experiment with peas pulav that his sister was teaching him to make. “In England,Sheffield,where I’m playing the next tournament,you have to cook your own food,” smiles the 23-year-old prodigy who is making waves internationally. In 2008,Mehta became the first player from India to qualify for the professional circuit snooker,in a decade since Yasin Merchant.

Beating names like Mike Russell,Jamie James and on home turf Pankaj Advani—the world champion in amateur snooker—is no child’s play. Mehta puts in six to seven hours a day practicing. Along with yoga and gymming there is little room for leisure,“It’s a full-time job,” says the 2006 bronze winner of the Asian Games tournament.

The serious young man is attired in trouser and shirt,despite being “off-duty”.

“One of the many reasons I love playing snooker is the get-up- the tie and the waistcoat—it’s a gentleman’s game. Though a few colleagues got mistaken for waiters,” he says loosening up as we decided to leave the lunch room to shoot a few pockets.

Unlike most sport pros,Mehta is happy to explain to a layperson. “Snooker is more exciting than billiards and,even though it’s the same table,the same cues and the same weight of balls,one plays with 16 balls as opposed to three. It’s also a quicker and more viewer friendly,” says Mehta.

As he sets up the red and coloured balls,he tells us how he learnt on this very table at the age of 12,taught by his father Snehal Mehta who is a club champion. It wasn’t long before the student outdid the teacher and Mehta junior went on to win his first tournament,the Provogue Open at the age of 15.

“I can show you how the game goes,but I won’t be playing my best,since I don’t have my cue,” says Mehta. He goes on to explain,players who leave their cue behind before a match may as well not play the game. “It’s really important to have your own cue,or all is lost,” he says potting a ball with the alacrity of a pro.