Inside Sanju Samson’s Childhood: Fisherman Grandfather’s Wisdom, Kerala’s Sea and a Village That Believed

Long before Sanju Samson became a household name in Indian cricket, his world revolved around the rhythms of the sea, the quiet strength of his fisherman grandfather, and a close-knit coastal community in Kerala that believed in his dreams.

Anthonis, Sanju’s maternal grandfather, sits in his modest kitchen with brown wooden windows opening to the sea’s distant hum. His eyes, stoic and weathered, have witnessed decades of hardship — savage tidal waves battering his home, communal riots that scarred the serene coastline in the 1990s, the devastating floods of 2018, and the slow erosion of traditional fishing livelihoods by mechanised trawlers. Yet, those same eyes turn moist with pride when he speaks of Sanju’s childhood and the journey of raising a boy who would one day play for India.

Anthonis now lives in his son’s home in Nooruveedu Colony, popularly known as Tsunami Colony, where families displaced by what residents call the “revenge of the waves” were rehabilitated. When Sanju was younger, he lived in a house near the bend towards the Ursuline Convent, just a short walk from where his grandparents and maternal uncles resided.

“I was actually happy when they shifted from Delhi back home,” Anthonis recalls, referring to the period when Sanju’s father returned to Kerala after working in the capital. “I could see Sally and Sanju more often. I had rarely spent time with them before.” His words, spoken in a distinctive Tamil-Malayalam blend, gather pace as he reminisces, much like a speedboat slicing through water.

For most of his life, the sea dictated Anthonis’s routine, as it did for hundreds of families in Vizhinjam — an ancient fishing harbour that has now transformed into the Adani Vizhinjam Port. Towering gantry cranes and straddle carriers from the modern container terminal loom over a rectangular patch of land near the beach, symbolising the clash of old livelihoods and new economies.

It was in this environment that a young Sanju absorbed life lessons. His grandfather’s stories of fishing expeditions — about patience, timing, resilience and respect for nature’s ebbs and flows — quietly shaped his understanding of cricket. The uncertainty of the sea mirrored the uncertainties of sport, teaching him that calmness, discipline and belief were as important as skill.

Supported by family and encouraged by a village that took pride in its own, Sanju Samson’s childhood in coastal Kerala became the foundation of his cricketing journey. From narrow lanes near the sea to international stadiums, the values instilled by his fisherman grandfather and the faith of a small community continue to echo in the way he plays the game.