At La Masia, the Spanish winger absorbed the wisdom of the greats before him and topped it with his own unique abilities. And like in a palimpsest, you can see in his game glimpses of the skills of those who have gone before him.
Last weekend, Twitter threw up this random post on my timeline of a toddler, barely old enough to walk, nailing football drills. The sight sent me down a rabbit hole of memory.
I loved kicking a football around, as which true-blue Malayali kid doesn’t? Even before I was in my teens, my father’s first cousin K.P. Sethumadhavan (I wrote of him here) was tending goal for the Indian national team, and that inspired childhood ambitions to don national colours.
I trained, and I played, first for my school and then for my college. The level of coaching was …
Prem Panicker has been a journalist for over 30 years. From daily newspapers to weekly magazines and digital news portals—he was one of the seven journalists who were part of the Rediff.com start-up team—he has written and edited features extensively across mediums and publications. Since quitting his job at Yahoo in 2014, he has been working as a freelance writer and editor, as well as teaching narrative journalism.
newsletters+prempanicker@mailtmc.com