Football fans in Kerala transform their homes into colourful tributes to their teams
House of Brazil is a house painted, yes, you guessed it, in the colours of the Brazilian flag — green and yellow. It is tucked
House of Brazil is a house painted, yes, you guessed it, in the colours of the Brazilian flag — green and yellow. It is tucked away in one of the many side roads on Highway 66, in a place called Mekkad, near Nedumbassery, 28 kilometres from Kochi. Is it just a seasonal thing, during the FIFA World Cup? “No, this is how it has been for the past 20 years, since 2006,” says Salu Paul. “So, if you come in December or this time next year, our house will still ‘wear’ the Brazil colours.” Salu’s house is a landmark in the area, with helpful locals guiding the curious this way. House of Brazil is written on its compound wall, a giant shiny football propped on a pole near one of the gates that lead to the house, and images of players of the Brazilian team like Neymar Junior. There are Brazil flags of various sizes all over, even the plastic planters in the colours of the Canarinho or the Canary Squad, one of the nicknames of the Brazilian national team. While most football clubs and groups of football lovers have been putting up flex boards and giant cutouts of their favourite players and teams, there are some like Salu, 60, who have taken their love of the teams a step further; unapologetically announcing where their loyalties lie. Salu’s fleet of school vans has House of Brazil emblazoned on them, along with prints of the players like Vinicius and Neymar Junior. “My vehicles are also referred to as ‘House of Brazil’,” he says. “I started watching the game and following the Brazilian team in 1986, a time when greats like Socrates and Zico played. That is when I fell in love with the game and the team. This is my way of showing what it means to me.” The painting started in May, a month ahead of the World Cup, and everything was ready by the time the WC kicked off. Salu plays the game even now and is on a veteran’s team that plays in local tourneys.
He has never watched a World Cup game live, but he hopes to make it to the 2034 World Cup, when Saudi Arabia hosts it. There is more to Salu’s love for the game, and proof of which is a large white screen at the end of a shed on one side of his house. Dozens of plastic chairs are stacked along one side. “I screen all the games, every day. People from around here drop in to watch, young children and girls too. Football and sports clubs also screen these, but it would be an all-men kind of space where women may not feel comfortable. It is like a family affair here,” he adds. Lathi, Salu’s wife, chimes in, “People have no qualms of sending their kids to Kochayan’s (how Lathi addresses Salu) place.” Salu is known as Kochayan in the area. Lathi is supportive of her husband’s Brazil love, even dressing up in a Brazil jersey like Salu as they pose for photographs. He agrees that the Brazil team is not among the top contenders for the World Cup, “I like Neymar Junior. The team may not have made it, but it had its moments. After the times of the greats like Socrates…remember the days of Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, and Ronaldo (not Cristiano)?” It does not matter the team wins or loses, Salu’s heart bleeds the colours of the Brazilian flag. And then adds smilingly, “But Messi is my favourite footballer! Brazil is my team, I like Neymar, but one cannot deny Messi’s genius!” For the love of Messi Meanwhile 20 kilometres away, at Koovapady in East Cheranellor near Perumbavoor, which 35-odd kilometres from Kochi, Joy Uthuppu’s house is testimony to his love for Messi and Argentina. The house, painted light blue and white: the roof and the lower half of the house are blue while the door on the first floor (which makes the middle portion of the building) that opens to the terrace has a white flex printed with the Sun of May, the human-faced golden yellow emblem on the Argentine flag.
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