James having a ball in India

They call it Incredible India for no reason. At first, every foreigner planning a long vacation will grumble of our unique routines such as rash driving, spitting on roads and curious looks. Eventually, we make them blend in our ways and talk our tongue. Englishman David James, the goalkeeper-cum-manager of Indian Super League side Kerala Blasters had mixed feelings, mostly uncool, when he arrived late August. Just as he found the countryside amusing, the life in our cities annoyed him to begin with.

“I learned a couple of things,” he said about Kochi. “Road markings are merely a suggestion and cars have horns,” he scoffed. He also had words of appreciation for Mumbai that he found “Warm, wet and moves to the constant chorus of car horns.” It’s halfway into the maiden ISL season and now when you meet James on the eve of a match or after a training session his joy is sure to overwhelm you. “Namaste” he says holding palms and the bickering in his tone has gone for good.
“I have to live here for a lifetime to fully understand the place,” James talks about the beautiful and intriguing southern state Kerala that is his home ground for the rest of the ISL, until December.

“When I was younger I used to travel a lot. I went to China when I was 16 and it was wonderful to tell my people back home about the tour,” says the former Liverpool player. “But I’ve come to India for football and am not on a holiday.” The professional footballer is held up in a tight schedule with the 2.5-month-long ISL and hasn’t made a to-do list for his India sojourn, outside football though he did boating with family in the backwaters of Alappuzha before the season kicked off.

James, who writes his views in The Observer and also dons the Pundit hat in BT Sport had arrived in India after reading stuff from ‘wikipedia’ about our football. “I’m learning, everyday,” says the former England custodian. Having come from a country that popularised both cricket and football, James is not bemused by the fan following for the bat-game instead he is glad to be associating with Sachin Tendulkar who co-owns the Blasters.

“Cricket is a big sport so there is always a competition between the two sports. But ISL is creating something that is attractive and desirable for young sportsmen,” he explains. “I met Sachin Tendulkar a couple of months (before the ISL) ago in London. His passion for sport is wonderful and he is such a competitor,” he says boisterously. James believes a football club can offer a lot to the community other than football. “I felt that in Portsmouth, the value that a football club has in the community,” he says. “It is about anything and all other things we can bring to the community. My experience at Portsmouth shows that as a football club you give so much more than just football to the community,” he added.

At 44 he is the oldest in a celebrated list of the marquee players in the ISL that include Alessandro Del Piero, Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg, Elano, Joan Capdevila, Nicolas Anelka and David Trezeguet. “I’ve played 18 years in the premier league, started when I was 21. At 29 joined Aston Villa and thought I have got many years left in my career. Now I can say my best season was when I was 36-37.

“It’s all about personal management. I feel like I am a competitor in everything I do. At 44, I am still as hungry as I’ve ever been,” he asserts. On the field he looks up to the home crowd and urges the support to make more noise as if the connect existed for long. He has certainly shed his inhibitions from when he first saw us, brash and misbehaving as we are and now he smiles and say “Nanni” (Thanks in Malayalam).