The author, Arun Deshpande (b 1944), had his education at Ruparel College and is a B.Sc. (Hons) from Bombay University. He started his carrom playing in 1959 and has since won many open tournaments. He holds the record of having won the Maharashtra state Championship 7 times. He has also won the singles, doubles mixed doubles and vetaran singles titles at various National Championships. He was appointed captain of the Indian team which played a five-test match series against Sri Lanka. The Indian team made a clean sweep of this series. Along with Suhas Kambli, Arun participated in a carrom demonstration held for foreign Journalists at the New Delhi Asiad. He was the official coach for the Indian team for 1st and 3rd world championship. He was invited by the federations of Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, U. K. Maldives & Srilanka to coach their players.