PVLF 2025

Interview with Sanjay Mittal, Author of "Love Before Cricket"

In this interview, Sanjay Mittal, author of Love Before Cricket, explores love, second chances, and personal growth through the lens of cricket.
on Feb 10, 2025

An ardent cricket enthusiast and an engineer from Delhi College of Engineering Sanjay Mittal is a proud owner of his own business. He is a talented scriptwriter and a highly creative designer - a maker of modern, eco-friendly buildings and houses.

An expert in human psychology, yoga and exercises, he travels frequently through cities, mountains, villages and makes salads and brews in his free time.

Frontlist: Love Before Cricket intertwines themes of love, friendship, and personal growth. What inspired you to write a story that explores these elements against the backdrop of cricket?

Sanjay: Thank you for the opportunity for me to share my views on my book Love Before Cricket. Hmmm... let me give an honest answer. This was a book that had been brewing inside me for some time! Over the years, I have met many people who have faced challenges in life and bounced back well. That is very inspirational. It requires love, friendship, and personal growth to do so.

The characters Dhruv, Seema, Nishant, and Ravi were natural fit-ins to this story. The scenario of India of today- opportunities yet challenges- had to be made real, too. In the background is cricket, the great game that unites India. But then there are also so many distractions like cyber crimes, Tinder scams, and a deteriorating environment. I have got that all in!

For the last few years, I have been researching a scientific answer to why intelligent life came ONLY on our planet Earth and how we can make the most of it, including actions to cure lifestyle diseases. So whenever I come to a dead end, I love to write as the act of writing fires my imagination. As Einstein said, Creativity is intelligence having fun. The very act of writing, I guess, gets me out of a rut and freshens my mind up. So I had to write a book!

Frontlist: Dhruv and Seema's story reflects on second chances in love. What do you think makes rekindling past relationships so intriguing and relatable for readers?

Sanjay: Yes, Dhruv and Seema grabbed the second chance when life served them that small opening. Just that small opportunity of 3 seconds when Dhruv saw her on TV watching an Asia Cup cricket match. It lit an intriguing flame in him. But it took Seema some time to reconcile to that idea. Why would she be with a person who had left the relationship midway? That is how the story begins.

Is the past really dead? It's a mind game. If you want to close the past, you can just put the brake. In this case, it was not dead for both of them.

Frontlist: Seema's character holds onto both her love for Dhruv and cricket. How did you approach crafting her as a strong, independent character with her passions?

Sanjay: Okay, let me leak my writing secret. First, craft your characters well. In this case I knew slowly what my characters looked like and how they would act in a certain situation. Then imagine they are sitting together in a room or outside while the characters are enacting the story, and you are just a writer penning down their thoughts and dialogues.

In Love Before Cricket, I could visualise Dhruv as a talented guy but a bit impulsive. He holds the past close to his heart and cannot bury it. While Seema? I could see her as more rooted, career-oriented and also circumspect because of the hurt she was carrying.

Frontlist: Dhruv is a former cricketer turned coder. How do his career transitions mirror his emotional transformations in the story?

Sanjay: Dhruv keeps evolving emotionally in the story. As a teenager he wanted to be a googly bowler and was enthusiastic and sporty and was attracted to Seema.

But when life served him a googly and cricket became out of reach, he became passionate as an environmental engineer. Yet he was bitter and confused about what had happened. Then, he served as a bouncer when he saw that jobs for environmental engineers were not easy to come by, even though India and the world needed environmental engineers.

However, despite all these challenges, he had the talent of being a natural software coder. S,o that makes him rational and grounded. He remains upbeat despite the dark memories. And when he sees Seema again after years, there is an emotional transition.

It's all very exciting. All of us have various sides to our personalities. Most readers have identified with Dhruv and Seema

Frontlist: In today's chaotic world, how do stories like Love Before Cricket help readers find solace and inspiration in love and connection?

Sanjay: You are right. The world today is very chaotic. Years back, I used to think we were progressing toward world peace, cooperation between nations, and people living in Harmony. Well, what do we see instead? Countries fighting over the land of each other like property dealers; Citizens fighting each other in the name of caste and religion, forgetting humanity being one. Even families fighting over property and assets, and men and women unleashing false cases on each other.

This can make you angry and make you lose your own moral compass.

Here is where Love Before Cricket comes in. The story is about keeping your standards high. Have a good set of caring friends. Being strong enough to face adversity. And taking chances in life. Grab them when life gives you opportunities. Make the most of the only life you have

Frontlist: With your expertise in human psychology, did your understanding of relationships shape the emotional depth of Dhruv and Seema's story?

Sanjay: Interesting question. Let me give an honest answer. See, I had spent some time crafting out what Dhruv and Seema would be. Even as I wrote each word, at times, it seemed to flow out effortlessly. The characters seemed to have taken over my pen.

I think my own interest in psychology and human relationships helped largely. As a writer, you don't want to be too stiff that a character has to follow a certain pattern. But if you understand the psychology of the character you have created, things by default happen when you write on paper or type the words on the computer.

Frontlist: You juggle multiple roles—scriptwriter, designer, yoga enthusiast, and more. How do you find balance, and do any of these roles influence your writing?

Sanjay: All the roles help me! As a Yoga enthusiast, I get up early. So even if I sleep at 1 am after a late night party, I still get up at 5 am. Lately, I have developed my own exercise regime based on Yoga and aerobics and my love for biophysics, which I have called Samit. In this, I do practice targeted exercises for stamina, breathing, running, digestion, good sleep, muscular strength, and blood pressure. I take 90 minutes on it. During those 90 minutes, my mind runs over the story that I have to write for my book.

Then, many people come to me for learning exercises, construction, or real estate deals. You get to know their stories... so it all helps!

In the end, it is your own need to put your viewpoint on paper through a story that just drives you insanely mad that you have to write it out!