The strangest journeys are not made by people but by affections. They cross oceans without passports, survive languages they do not speak and arrive in places they were never expected to reach. Somewhere along that improbable route, Lionel Messi travelled from Rosario to a narrow lane in Ichhapur, where a tea seller painted his house in Argentina’s colours and waited years for the chance to tell the world’s greatest footballer a simple Bengali blessing, “bhalo theko” (stay well).
Shib Shankar Patra serves tea at his stall beneath a signed photograph of Lionel Messi featuring the tea seller’s Argentina themed home in Ichhapur.
| Photo Credit:
Shreya Banerjee
On Messi’s 39th birthday on June 24, that affection transformed Ichhapur’s Nawabganj, an industrial neighbourhood located in North Barrackpore municipality of North 24 Paraganas, into a small outpost of Argentina.
