There’s a twenty-year age gap between our two interviewees. But it doesn’t hamper a free flowing conversation between Viren Rasquinha and Jemimah Rodrigues. Rasquinha keenly listens to the cricket journey of Rodrigues, who arrives at the Bandra eatery straight from a practice session and will head out to Vasai for an outreach programme post the interview. 

That Rodrigues first started as an under-17 hockey player for Maharashtra and later, Mumbai, serves as a common ground for both. “She wouldn’t remember it but I have seen her play hockey in school at a rink hockey tournament I organise every year,” Rasquinha tells us, sipping on fresh mint lemonade .