Former India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh recalls his wife Aneshya’s touching gesture of writing 16 letters to him on his 16th birthday.
Talking to Indian Express at an idea exchange, Sreejesh said with a smile on his face, ‘For my 16th birthday, she wrote me 16 letters (smiles). Whenever I needed her, she was there. She was there to take care of my parents, our two children, everything. I think I am where I am today because of their sacrifice.”
Talking about how his love story with 36-year-old Aneshya started, he said, ‘When I left home at the age of 12 to join GV Raja Sports School, I got homesick, so my best friend was a teacher. The coaches were tough, but the teachers loved us. I was a decent student, always in the top three, so it was easy to be the teacher’s pet.”
“After that, Anishya joined the school in class 9. She was a good athlete but a Buddhajivi as we say in Malayalam, a bookworm. When I scored 38-40 it was at the top of the class, but she came and scored 49, 50. Teachers started telling me to study like him (laughing),” he added.
“At first we didn’t get along. That’s how love stories start, right? In class 10, I was selected for the National Under-16 camp and started skipping classes. So as it usually happens, I relied on the best student for notes. This is how we started talking. The study session brought us closer and we became good friends. Then she left school, returned to her hometown and we exchanged letters for two years,’ Sreejesh recalled.
Sreejesh announced her retirement earlier this year after winning a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Anishya said while talking to The Indian Express at that time. “I don’t know what it’s like to see him as a retired player. He’s been a sportsman since the day I first met him.
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