Sports
For Dr. Mohan ‘Sports’ was everything he wanted his life to be about until his father came along and steered his focus to his studies. Dr. Mohan would have made his way into the Indian Cricket Team if it were not for the detour he was forced to make into medicine. Cricket, track & field events occupied most of his time-table during his school and college days. He was a respected opening bowler well known for his exceptional bag of tricks that outwitted some of the best batting line ups during those days. With his aggression tucked under his gentleness, he screwed every batsman who took him for granted. He made it to the Ranji trophy team that represented the Andhra State.
He has received numerous awards for his marvelous display of talent and courage during his school and college days. In an Indo-Sri Lankan schools athletic meet held in 1959, his team won the overall champions trophy in which he contributed with gold medals for 5 events. The events were:
- Long jump
- Hop-step and jump
- 100s, 200s & 400mts with a time of 11.2 sec for 100mts at school level
Dr. Mohan participated in various events of the Madras State Schools in 1960.
From the year 1963 to 1966, he played for Andhra University in cricket and in 1966 was selected for Ranji Trophy for Andhra State.
Movies & Music
An ardent fan of English and Hindi movies that ran during the period from 1955 to 1970, he was religiously punctual for the first show of every movie that ran during those days.
He went to see his favorite actors on the big screen. He liked them so much that he was up to date with all info about their lives making him kingpin of the ‘gossip corner’. His favorites from Hollywood include – Clark Gable, Steve Macqueen, Anthony Quinn, Dean Martin, Kirk Douglas, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren & Gina Lollo Brigida. His favorite movies included – Gone with the Wind, Benhur, The Ten Commandments, Psycho.
From the Indian Film industry, he enjoyed and still cherishes some of the great hits from the times of Shammi Kapoor, Madhu Bala, Bina Rai & Balraj Sahni.
Every time Dr. Mohan hummed a tune, it would be a familiar number from Harry Bellefonte or Kenny Rogers. He still caries the best of these collections in his little kitty.
Travel & Food
Loves to travel….Loves to eat. Dr. Mohan experiments with his taste buds...tries out all kinds of food. The Doctor has travelled extensively to countries like the U.S., Europe, Far-East and inland China. During his visits - loves to have Mexican, Italian, Suzschi, Continental, Dum Biriyani …. You mention it…
In 2023 July travelled with his entire family to Seattle onwards to Alaska, Vancouver ,Montreal ,Dubai & back to India. The distance covered was 2026 miles by sea , 22,000 miles by air & crossed 14 time zones in 14 days.
Reading
Dr. Mohan was fond of comic books during his childhood. He grew up reading the comics of Thomas Hardy and the famous Gene Autry, Roy Rogers & Davy Crocket.
He had no other reason to collect money but to spend on his comics. He would save every single paisa he could manage to collect from the house. When he was sure he had enough he would run down to the Higgin Botham store situated at Trivandrum to take his favorites back home. One of his favorites at that time was ‘Batman & Robin’.
When he grew a little older, he went for bigger books – Thomas Hardy, William Shakespeare & those of Charles Dickens. For light reading, he chose the books of Mickey Plane, Arthur Hailey, Sydney Sheldon, Agatha Christy, Gibriel Garshia Marquez.