A car accident on New Year’s Eve in 1987 left Arvind Prabhoo paralysed neck down. But it strengthened him neck up – in terms of mental fortitude.
At the time of the crash, Prabhoo was a 20-year-old embracing everything life had to offer. He was a final year student at Bengaluru’s MS Ramaiah Medical College, on the verge of donning a doctor’s scrubs like his illustrious father, the former Mumbai mayor Dr. Ramesh Prabhoo. He also played competitive badminton and table tennis.
Innately gung-ho, Prabhoo took the accident in his stride and resolved to live an engaged life. Nearly four decades on, he is involved in running many sports initiatives and is the chairman of the All India Pickleball Association (AIPA). This makes him a key figure in a game steadily capturing the fascination of the masses, celebrities and sponsors.
“Neither me nor my parents held our heads and wept about our fate. Maybe they did so privately but never in front of me,” the wheelchair-bound Prabhoo tells HT amidst preparations for the World Pickleball League (WPL), which begins in Mumbai on January 24. He speaks without drama or preachiness, which another person in his shoes might be wont to do.
Recalling the mishap, Prabhoo says, “I was driving a friend’s red Maruti 100 and the car lost control and flipped. My spinal cord was severely damaged.”
Prabhoo admits that drinks had been consumed by the group. At the same time, he says he was in his senses and had driven 40km without incident till the crash.
He insists on looking at the bright side. “No one died. My friends weren’t hurt much. Every December 31, I cut a cake. That was the day I got a second shot at life,” Prabhoo says.
Friends and family, not to mention the Prabhoos’ influential status, were a big help. A game-changer was going to Boston for rehab, and benefitting from the hospital’s social acceptance activities.
“On designated days we would be taken to a bar or for pizza by the hospital. That really helped me feel accepted,” Prabhoo says. “Back home people would tend to be full of pity, or invoke karma and past life and things like that. In Boston I was accepted the way I was.”
After returning to India Prabhoo made a couple of attempts at finishing medical school. But he realised that even if he passed, having a career as a doctor was unrealistic. He then got into the cable trade, having experienced the wonder of sixteen channels in the US. After selling that business, he immersed himself into sports, chiefly through Mumbai’s Prabodhankar Thackeray Krida Sankul, where he is the chairman.
Prabhoo first encountered pickleball in 2017 and saw potential in the game’s accessibility across age and gender. Seven years later, the sport has grown manifold. An estimated 70,000 Indians play it, 10,000 of them professionally. The WPL has attracted investments of $10 million for a three-to-five year period. ITC’s Bingo chips have signed a reportedly ₹12 crore deal with the AIPA. The likes of Harsh Goenka, Karan Johar and Alia Bhatt have endorsed the sport.
Prabhoo is glad that pickleball has acquired the “wow factor”. But he is happier that the game is now allowing its entire ecosystem, including coaches and players from smaller towns, to earn a respectable living.
As for his advice on dealing with adversity, he says, “The accident paralysed me but I still had my brain, my oratory and leadership skills. You just have to look for the opportunity in the adversity.”
Let’s just say when life threw Arvind Prabhoo in a pickle, he found pickleball.
