Thiruvananthapuram: It looks as if this man can do anything. It was only a few months ago that Satheevan Balan had inspired a bunch of inexperienced lads to win the Santosh Trophy national football championship. On Sunday, the man responsible for Kerala's most spectacular sporting triumph in 2018, was seen interpreting Spanish for an august crowd of top academics at an international conference on 'Thoughts and Ideas for a Resilient Kerala' held in the state capital.
It were the words of Cuban delegates Carlos Rodriguez Almaguer and Miguel Rojas Tamayo, top honchos of Cuba's reputed Civil Defence System, that the football coach was translating. The seminar was jointly organised by the Kerala State Higher Education Council and Janavishkara People's Web Portal.
The interpreter role did not come about by design. It was just that Satheevan's arrival in Thiruvananthapuram coincided with the conference. Satheevan, who is now assistant coach of Gokulam FC, was in the city to secure official nod from Kerala State Sports Council (KSSC) for his travel to Dubai for the AFC Cup in February. Satheevan is also a KSSC coach.
His knowledge of Spanish had a Cuban connection. CPM politburo member M A Baby knew that Satheevan had been in Cuba for six years for a physical education course, and had asked the organisers to rope him in as interpreter. Baby himself introduced Satheevan to the audience as Kerala's football hero.
At the football dugout, Satheevan had the bearing of a military general fully in control of the situation. But on the conference stage he looked a bit hesitant. “I am not an expert on the things these gentlemen from Cuba will be speaking. Yet I will try my best to help them communicate with you,” Satheevan said before attempting to interpret the Spanish of the Cuban officials.
Carlos Rodriguez Almaguer and Miguel Rojas Tamayo, through Satheevan, explained the systems that Cuba, with a tumultuous coastline of 5,747 kms, has in place to respond effectively to disasters like tsunamis and hurricanes.
Here is a statistic that could demonstrate Cuba's disaster preparedness rigour. When Hurricane Charley struck in 2004, over 30 deaths were reported in Florida. While in Cuba, which lies slightly south and was equally impacted, the death toll was just two.
It was an Indian government scholarship that took Satheevan to Cuba. He was in Santa Clara, a city right in the middle of Cuba but popular for being Che Guevara's final resting place. “The first year we had to learn Spanish, and the remaining five years we studied physical education,” Satheevan told Onmanorama.
He had lost touch with Spanish after he returned to India. But thanks to Whatsapp, he has re-connected. “Now I talk Spanish with old friends in Cuba through WhatsApp,” Satheevan said. Yet, the surprise assignment did daunt him. “The subject of discussion was not something I was familiar with,” he said.
Also, it was not the first time that Satheevan had played the role of an interpreter. The first time was in 2001. He had come to Kochi on vacation to watch the Millennium Cup. “Someone knew that I was studying in Cuba and approached me to function as the interpreter for the Uruguayan team,” Satheevan said. The Uruguayan assignment was not as daunting as Sunday's as it was mostly about football.
