KANHANGAD: Far away from his home at Pilicode, midfielder KP Rahul, 23, is working hard at a selection camp of Chennaiyin FC in Chennai. Playing in the Indian Super League (ISL) is his dream and ticket to escape poverty and the abject apathy of his home state Kerala.
Rahul has already proved his mettle, helping Kerala lift the Santosh Trophy after a 14-year gap in April 2018. An elated state government promised jobs for all the 11 players - who had defeated West Bengal - and a house for Rahul.
Two monsoons later, the midfielder is still living with his 70-year-old grandmother Narayani in a dilapidated leaky shed, which he calls home, at Pilicode. “All that is not on my mind now. I’m thinking only of football,” he said on phone from Chennai.
But when he is in Kasaragod, the officials kick him around like a football. Rahul has been to the Pilicode Village office at least 15 times to get what the government has promised him - a tiny plot and a house. “The village officer said there’s no surplus land at Pilicode to allocate to me,” said Rahul.
Pilicode grama panchayat president Sreedharan TV said Rahul’s family moved to Cheemeni village. “Here we had formed a people’s committee to help him, but he moved to Cheemeni and we did not pursue it,” he said.
Three years ago, the government gave Rahul’s mother KV Thankamani 10 cents at Chembrakanam, 5 km from Cheemeni. When the government gave Rs 2 lakh each to all players for the Santosh Trophy victory, he invested the money and another Rs 3 lakh he took as loan to build a one-room house on the plot. It is now shared by his mother, a daily-wage labourer; father KP Rameshan, a woodcutter; and his sister Rasna, an undergraduate student of Payyannur College.
“I don’t stay there because there’s no ground to practise at Chembrakanam. So I live with my grandmother,” he said. The leaky shed sits on four cents, on which all the seven children of Narayani have a stake. “I didn’t ask for the house from the government. But since it promised me a house, the word should be kept,” he said.
The District Collector had directed Pilicode Village officer to find a plot and allot it to Rahul. “The panchayat can help build a house only if the plot is in his name,” said the president. The promised job is also not in sight.
‘Talented player’
Rahul, who was the captain of Kasaragod team, first played for Kerala when he was in Class VI. While studying at the Pilicode Government UP School, he was picked up by the Vision India Project and given coaching. He represented Kerala in the Under-13 category. After high school, he joined Malappuram’s MSP Higher Secondary School, known for its success in football.
Then Rahul enrolled at the Baselius College in Kottayam for BA Malayalam course and went on to play for the Mahatma Gandhi University. “That’s when I was picked to play in the Santosh Trophy tournament,” he said. After a year or so, Rahul dropped out of college and joined SN College in Kannur because he wanted to train at Pilicode. However, it now appears there is hardly any room for him in his native village.