Adieu, Master: VM Balachandran Passes Away

By John Cheeran
Vimcee is gone. The whistle has been blown.
VM Balachandran, 86, who lent sports writing in Malayalam a great deal of respect, and brought passion and verve into his reportage died on Saturday at his home in Kozhikode.
Balachandran, who wrote extensively on football, had a
long stint with Mathrubhumi daily.
Years ago, when Vimcee was writing for Kerala Kaumudi's Kozhokode edition as well as for the now defunct tabloid Calicut Times (may be in 1989-90) I had met the Master at his home. I was a kid, but he treated me with respect. He had an advice for me. Bring in the chimiku (punch) into your writing. Hit hard. In fact, Vimcee's tailpieces were great examples of how to hit hard against foulplay on and off the field.
The wonderful thing about Vimcee was that he knew what he was writing about, something that cannot be said about the current crop of football writers in India.
I still remember Vimcee's annoyance at football writers in Kerala coming up with gems such as "goal pirannu veenu."
Adieu, Master.