It is going to take some time for me to fully accept that Phillip Zarrilli is no more. Phillip, as I knew him as a friend, continues to live in my mind's eye with memories of ceaseless conversations, exchanges of letters and interactions in different parts of the world. Just three months before his death on 28 April 2020, we had met in Kerala, his second home, in the town of Kunnamkulam, where we had watched a high-voltage, virtuoso performance of the Kathakali play Duryodhanavadham (The Killing of Duryodhana) by the Kerala Kalamandalam troupe, which we thoroughly relished. I have rarely seen Phillip more relaxed and happy as I remember him in Kunnamkulam. While he was, in all probability, aware that this was going to be his last trip to Kerala, he was making the most of it, reminding us that he had come full circle by returning to the state which had nurtured his initiation into the martial arts tradition of kalarippayyattu.