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Cricket homestay for you
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A cricket homestay: this new concept is taking shape at Bat& Ball Inn, the new place that is coming up in the city. J.K. Mahendra tells K. Pradeep that Sreesanth and Robin Uthappa are also with him in this venture
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Photo: H.Vibhu
Cricket and business Former Kerala cricketer J. K. Mahendra at the Bat & Ball homestay coming up in the city
A green signboard stands prominently at the entrance of the city’s new homestay, Bat & Ball Inn. It gives you the distance in kilometres to some of the historic cricket venues in the world. There’s one that points to the Tripunithura
Palace Oval, home to what many consider the first-ever limited overs game. This set the tone to what to expect when you step into Bat & Ball.
The first-ever cricket homestay is readying for a grand launch sometime in June with a soft launch later this month. And the place is simply spilling cricket.
Joint venture
A joint venture of former Indian junior and Kerala Ranji Trophy cricketer J. K. Mahendra, S. Sreesanth and his Indian team mate Robin Uthappa, cricket runs deep here.
Tucked away in a quiet bylane off Foreshore Road, this homestay is the brainchild of Mahendra who is not just passionate, but crazy about cricket.
“Initially, the concept was something I shared with Sree, which he willingly accepted. We began work on the Bangalore one and a day before the soft launch, Robin called up saying he wanted to join in. That was how Bat & Ball came up there. For the Kochi one, we have Charu Sharma joining us. We have attempted to standardise the whole thing and will also get it branded,” informs Mahendra, who is busy giving final touches to the venture. Photographs, paintings and other memorabilia jostle for place. Mahendra has brought in some from his own collection. “Here we will have a special focus of Kerala cricket. I have some rare photographs and I’m still on the hunt for more. There is a print of Yusuf Arakkal’s work on Anil Kumble, autographed memorabilia of some of the legends of the game, a shirt signed by the South African side that has the signature of Hansie Cronje, a Team India shirt of Sreesanth and so much more. Anyone who has a passion for cricket can walk in and take a stroll through the game’s history.”
Inspiration for the homestay comes from the historic Bat & Ball Inn at Hambledon, England. It served as a pavilion and clubhouse for the Hambledon Cricket Club. Even today, it is here that teams get together after a match at Broadhalfpenny Down, for a post-mortem of the game, with a few rooms for stay.
“We will have only five suite rooms at the Bat & Ball. They are named after some of the greats of the game. In Kochi, we will have rooms named after Sunil Gavaskar, Richard Hadlee, Dennis Lillee, Vivian Richards and one room simply called The Legends.”
Elegantly and tastefully done up, by Mahendra, who “loves doing up homes,” each room comes at a price tag of Rs. 5,000-6,000. “There will be season and off-season rates,” assures Mahendra, who is excited about how this “paradise of cricket” is shaping up. At the entrance of each of these rooms are exclusive, autographed pictures, in beautiful frames, of these cricketers. “We won’t have them inside the rooms. The walls inside will have paintings depicting scenes from English village cricket.”
Silly Point may not be a comfortable place to field. If Twenty20 parlance, a recent addition to cricket vocabulary, is anything to go by the Dugout seems to be quite a cosy place. It is here that cricketers, domestic and international, really rub shoulders with each other, munch into sandwiches and gulp some of choicest beverages.
At the Bat & Ball Inn, visitors can snuggle at Silly Point, the coffee shop, or savour a wide range of cuisine at the Dugout, in the company of the legends of the game that take up space on every inch of the walls.
Fusion cuisine
“We will offer you a sort of fusion cuisine. It will be journey across the various lands of Europe, Middle and Far Eastern Asia and of course India. The flavours are preparation styles blended by master chefs. The cuisines that will be served here will be predominantly Continental,” says Anand, one of the four partners of Cornucopia, the Chennai-based restaurateurs, who also run the eating place in Bangalore.
A souvenir shop, a boutique, library, a big screen where the inmates can play films or cricket DVDs, will add zing to the place. “More than business I intend this place to be a hangout for cricket lovers. History is at a premium these days. Both Sree and Robin have begun collecting mementoes, which will then come up for show here. I hope every young cricketer will develop this desire,” Mahendra winds off.
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Big screen debut
Cricket occupies every moment of J. K. Mahendra’s life. “If I could turn the clock back I would do just one thing, play cricket like when young.”
Films always attracted Mahendra, at least watching them. He also has an intimate bonding with some of the leading stars in Malayalam and Tamil films. This perhaps led him into accepting an offer from Renjith in his forthcoming Prithiviraj-starrer ‘Thirakkatha.’
“The film, I believe is all about films and making them. I play a producer. I have finished one schedule and it was tough. The next one is in Thiruvananthapuram,” says the dapper cricketer.
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