Messi is everywhere. Like one fan put it, he is there when we are happy and when we are sad. He can lift us out of our slumber when we are sleepy and can motivate us when we are down. He has transcended religion, caste, creed and region. He is the unifying factor that can bind the world into one. He is omnipotent too. Just like God. What else would explain erecting a 70-m statue in Kolkata, multiple timezones away from Rosario, Messi’s home in South America?

On a multi-day tour of India—aptly named GOAT tour —Messi is everywhere. Politicians want to play football with him. People want to give up their weekend to breathe his air, even if it’s only going to be for a few minutes. What’s `10 lakh if the prize for parting with that money is to see him in the flesh and shake his hands. On Saturday, Kolkata’s hoi polloi went to the Salt Lake Stadium to see him, their God of football. It didn’t matter that from 100 feet away, he would appear as a speck but nothing was going to deter fans’ expectations and their love. It was an

‘I-was-there’ moment, a moment he or she would live with for their entire lives. No wonder, then, when they couldn’t see him, it turned ugly and chaotic.

So when Messi landed in the wee hours of a wintery night in Kolkata, the whole city seemed to be awake. The Albiceleste had a different meaning. As the jamboree moved to Hyderabad, scenes were much saner. A meet-and-greet session cost `10 lakh, and people were happily paying without batting their eyelids.

Messi’s growing-up years are like fables. The story goes that the first time he touched the ball with his left foot, he was so young he could not shoot. Messi was not even supposed to be playing then. He was playing on the sidelines. His first coach, Salvador Aparicio, during an interview (2008) said his team was one player short and he had to take permission from his mother who was initially reluctant but a little nudge from Messi’s grandmother helped her make up her mind.