Why I M Vijayan’s kiss for Ronaldinho meant so much to Kerala

Football fans around the world know Ronaldinho very well.

He is an absolute legend of the game who played football with a smile on his face. The flair, the joy and the entertainment he provided to fans of the beautiful game are difficult to explain.

And then he came to Kerala, India, to play an exhibition game, in a place where football is much more than just a sport.

During a World Cup, almost every corner of Kerala changes.

Flags and giant cutouts of Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, France, England and African nations take over towns and villages.

Football becomes a conversation everywhere.

Small children talk about the matches. So do their parents and grandparents. Friends and families quarrel over Brazil and Argentina. Then come the inevitable arguments about Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Tea shops become noisy with debates about football, its politics and everything around it.

And Ronaldinho has been part of those memories for a generation of Malayalis.

He was part of the last Brazil team to win the World Cup, in 2002. His face was everywhere in Kerala when he was playing and, more than two decades later, the affection remains.

Even for the World cup that recently concluded, you could spot his face on countless Brazil flexes in Kerala, often alongside the Phenomenon, Ronaldo Nazario.

Ronaldinho brought smiles to millions of football fans around the world, and plenty of them were in Kerala.

So when I M Vijayan walked up to Ronaldinho and affectionately kissed him on the forehead during the Brazil Legends visit to Kochi, it was a beautiful little football moment.

But to understand why it felt so special, you need to know who Vijayan is.

Outside India, I M Vijayan might not be a familiar name. Even in many parts of India outside Kerala, plenty of people might not recognise him.

But ask a genuine football fan in India and the answer will be very different.

For Malayalis, Vijayan is an emotion.

And his journey is remarkable.

Vijayan grew up in poverty in Thrissur, his hometown in Kerala. Long before people packed stadiums to watch him play, he was a boy selling soda and other items at Thrissur Municipal Stadium to make some money and, importantly, to stay close to football.

His family struggled badly for money. His mother collected scrap and waste paper and sold them. Vijayan himself has spoken about knowing hunger and poverty during his childhood.

But the boy selling soda could play football.

Really well.

His talent was eventually spotted and, at just 17, he was recruited by Kerala Police.

Football became his ticket out of poverty.

It is the kind of journey football has provided for countless players who grew up with very little.

Vijayan went on to represent India for more than a decade and was named the country's Player of the Year three times.

And anyone fortunate enough to watch Vijayan in his prime will tell you about the talent.

He made football look easy.

Sadly, there are not many video clips of Vijayan at his best. He played in an era when Indian football did not receive anything close to the television coverage it gets today.

Even now, it is not that great.

Vijayan himself has spoken about the lack of footage, saying it does not bother him because previous Indian legends also had little video evidence of their careers.

So much of the I M Vijayan story lives in people's memories.

Even after his putting an end to his professional career, he continued playing football, including appearances in Kerala's famous seven a side football tournaments and exhibition games.

I have had the privilege of watching him play in one of those tournaments.

And you understand the love for Vijayan when you stand among that crowd.

Every touch gets a cheer.

People just want the ball to reach him because they are waiting to see what he will do with it.

And that love has never really disappeared.

Wherever Vijayan goes, inside Kerala or outside it, Malayalis recognise him and gather around him.

Malayalis have that working class DNA. For generations, they have travelled to almost every corner of the world in search of work, ready to grind and build a life wherever opportunity takes them.

But wherever we go, we carry a little bit of Kerala with us.

And football travels with us too.

So Vijayan does not have to be in Thrissur, Kochi or Malappuram to experience that affection.

For Malayali football fans, he is not simply a former Indian international or a name from the record books.

The man is an emotion.

Perhaps that can be difficult to fully understand for a wider Indian audience.

India is a huge country where cricket dominates the sporting conversation and football is not equally embedded in the culture everywhere.

But there are places where it is different.

Kerala, West Bengal, Goa and several North Eastern states have deep football traditions of their own.

In Kerala, Vijayan belongs to that culture.

And there is another beautiful twist to this story.

Vijayan grew up supporting Brazil because of Pele.

Then he watched Diego Maradona at the 1986 World Cup.

Everything changed.

Vijayan has said that watching Maradona against England turned him into an Argentina supporter and that he has remained one ever since.

When Maradona visited Kerala years later, Vijayan got the opportunity to share the stage and juggle with the ball alongside his hero.

He described Maradona as being like a god to him.

And there is an even better Ronaldinho connection.

The first World Cup Vijayan attended in person was Korea Japan 2002.

He was there when Brazil won their fifth World Cup with a team containing Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, Cafu and a young Ronaldinho.

It became the first of seven consecutive World Cups for Vijayan.

So here was one of India's great footballers, an Argentina supporter and Maradona devotee, affectionately kissing one of Brazil's greatest players on the forehead.

No Brazil versus Argentina argument.

Just football.

And perhaps that is why the moment looked so beautiful.

Ronaldinho brought joy to Malayalis from thousands of kilometres away.

I M Vijayan is one of our own.

One became a football emotion around the world.

The other became a football emotion wherever Malayalis went.

And for a few seconds in Kochi, those two emotions met.

Brazil Legends eventually beat Indian All Stars 4-3 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Ronaldinho scored from the penalty spot and Fernandinho hit a hat trick, while another Malayali football favourite, C K Vineeth, scored twice and Ashim Biswas added another for the Indian side. And there was a nice little twist there too. Vineeth himself is a Brazil fan.

Ronaldinho was not the only Brazilian great who made the evening special. Rivaldo, another absolute legend of the game and a Ballon d'Or winner, was also there. Edmilson, another member of Brazil's 2002 World Cup winning team, was part of the squad too, alongside several other familiar Brazilian names.

For football fans in Kerala, these are not unfamiliar names from another part of the world. We have followed their careers for years. We watched them at World Cups, argued about them with friends and celebrated or suffered depending on which side of the Brazil Argentina divide we belonged to.

That is why seeing so many of them together in Kochi meant something.

The crowd chanted for both Ronaldinho and Vijayan on a night built around nostalgia.

But the score was almost secondary.

Sometimes the smallest moment tells the biggest story.