Sevens is a soccer-themed literary novel rooted in Kerala’s seven-a-side football culture.
It follows a group of young men from their village playing days in Kerala and later through their self-exiled lives in Bombay, New York, California, and Qatar in search of work and opportunity. The novel moves through local Sevens soccer tournaments, friendship, local feuds, the spectacle of the World Cup, immigration — both legal and illegal, grief over fallen teammates in their pursuit of a better living, and the difficult search for closure from a torment they collectively carried throughout their lives, against the eventful backdrop of world affairs surrounding the end of the Cold War.
The novel’s non-linear storytelling follows three main tracks: the story of seven young men growing up playing soccer in a village and their effort to organize a tournament that ends in tragedy; their later lives as migrant workers within India and abroad; and the journey of the Cameroon team in the 1990 World Cup, which inspires the young men to do things they otherwise would never have dared to do.
Book details
- Genre: Literary fiction / sports fiction
- Length: Approx. 100,000 words
- Setting: Kerala, Bombay, New York City, San Francisco Bay Area, Qatar
- Status: Forthcoming
Characters
Kairali Club Sevens Team
Manager: Ibrahimkutty
Starting VII
- Nixon Paul (C) - GK
- Thomas Manjila
- Edathil Abbas
- Santhosh K.V.
- Shaju K.K.
- Hari C.P.
- P.K. Balachandran
Substitutes
- Ajikumar S. - GK
- Edathil Navas
- Thobias Harshan
Chapters
- Waiting in Vain
- Lost in Los Gatos
- World Cup in Living Room
- A Surreal Run-in on El Camino Real
- Two Illegals Make One Legal
- Lay Down Life in Lusail
- Kairali Arts & Sports Club
- Beginning of a Rift
- 1990 Watch Party
- The Indomitable Lions
- Fallen Friends
- Recall from Réunion
- The Lions on the Prowl
- Out of the Shade
- Sevens Season 1988
- A Lesson in Loss
- Sevens Season 1989
- Outplayed while out Hunting
- Sevens Season 1990
- They Sat down by the River
- Fragmented Stories of Broken Lives
- Memories of Fried Fritters
- A Small River Island
- The Reckoning Ahead
- The Lone Man at the Table
- An Honorable Exit
- The Rekindled Dream
- The Low Hum of the Rushing River
- The Ground Rules
- Dashed Dreams
- A Stroll through the Town