Messi Mayhem at Salt Lake Stadium
In this hard-hitting report, writer Prasanta Paul exposes the anarchy of the Messed up Messi Tour, detailing how political cronyism and mismanagement turned Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium into a scene of international embarrassment.
Did Lionel Messi anticipate a mayhem at the inaugural venue of his maiden G.O.A.T tour of India? Perhaps yes; probably no. Yes, because his Instagram post at the end of the tour completely blacked out the City of (Sordid) Joy. Probably no because, there was merely a passing reference at the fag end of the post to one or two Kolkata occasions where he sparkled with his momentary presence.
A ‘big crown’ indeed in the cap of Kolkata; uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. To remove the uneasiness, the ‘crown’ ran helter-skelter; locked itself up in the company of selected cronies including a section of the media and then emerged with a pre-dotted prescription to hoodwink the fans, maybe Messi too.
As expected, the prescription fell flat on those for whom it was intended despite the desperate attempts of the bootleggers (a section of the media included) to fork out as credible an explanation as possible.
They(bootleggers) opted to smokescreen the Messi mayhem by dishing out an alternative narrative to sweep the worldwide condemnation of the event under the carpet and tide over the messy impact on the political horizon.
Damage Done
But sadly, this monumental damage, once done, cannot be undone, much though the colour of the prescription changes or varies. The Salt Lake Stadium fiasco has unfortunately made its inglorious niche in the annals of international sports.
Who is a lumpen or what are the characteristics of a lumpen raj? History must have been galore with instances. However, if one is keen to witness a practical example in modern times, instead of flipping through the pages of theories, the insane bedlam called the ‘Messi Mess’ in the Salt Lake Stadium is enough to pulverise one into believing that this incident could well go down the sports history of India, sorry the world, as one of the perfect examples.
Had T S Eliot been alive, he must have corrected one line in his famous poem ‘Hollow Men’ – instead of writing “Headpiece filled with straw, Alas!”, he must have written “Headpiece filled with gangrene, Alas!” (Profound apology to Mr Eliot).
A Deadly Gangrene
A deadly gangrene has infected the state of ‘Waste’ Bengal where celebration of the arrival of Lionel Messi, the Argentine soccer wizard, as part of his India tour degenerated into an abject display of anarchy at the Stadium.
Who is or are to be blamed for this ‘Messy’ mayhem?
A handful of cronies in the ruling disposition and the ‘VVIP’ (?) presence in the stadium turned it into a hotbed of selfie-seekers comprising the close relatives of top notch political dadas and some sports mafias who all blocked every possible view of hundreds of thousands of spectators in the stands when the legendary footballer made a rousing entry into the Stadium.
Fans had paid between Rs 3800/- and Rs 14750/- for a single ticket to steal as close a view as possible for the soccer maestro. Oh wait; picture abhi baki hai. For an exclusive single selfie with Messi, the price tag was reportedly kept at Rs 9.95 lakh; for a group of eight – Rs 50 lakh and for ten persons, the tag was a whooping Rs one crore.
Fans had also paid Rs 200/- for a one litre water bottle worth Rs 20/-; Rs 300/- for a cold drink worth Rs 30/-; Rs 100/- for a packet of Chips worth Rs 10/- & Rs 200/- for a packet of Chips worth Rs 20/- .
No wonder that their ire would vent forth in a violent manner in the wake of a hurried, unscheduled departure of the Argentine soccer hero within less than 20 minutes of his appearance. Denied even a slice of a view of their hero, they ripped off seats, chairs and fencings and hurled them at the field immediately after Messi left.
Some of the fans claimed they had paid even higher the price that was being quoted. Eddie Lal Hmangaihzuala, who had travelled nearly 1,500 km from Mizoram over two days to attend the event, left like thousand others as he failed to get an iota of a glimpse of Messi.
A local Bengali daily has pegged the approximate cost of the Messi event in Kolkata at Rs 150 crore; he was scheduled for a 45-minute visit to the stadium, but his appearance lasted less than 20 minutes.
The Scapegoat
Interestingly, the organiser Satadru Dutta who has been made a scapegoat for the mess, was quickly de-boarded from the special aircraft owned by Messi before his arrest by the cops for the bedlam. Dutta was supposed to accompany Messi throughout the tour of India.
Indian soccer icon Sunil Chhetri, son-in-law of Bengal, who scored more than 150 goals for the country, was nowhere to be seen at the stadium nor was a soccer ball placed before Messi for a formal display of his art or a golden shot.
Later Chetri was seen at Mumbai with Messi and he made an emotional post in Instagram: “I almost didn’t make the trip to Mumbai, till the fan in me rebelled and went anyway…in a rare win, Sunil Chhetri the fan beat Sunil Chhetri the pro, and I couldn’t be happier about it.”
“To be able to express my gratitude to leomessi in person for everything that he has done for our sport, felt like both a dream and a duty.”
Awkward Queries & Memes
Thousands of awkward questions and memes that flooded the social media in its wake centred around one query; how come the same organiser, despite being behind the bar, could put up such beautifully disciplined events featuring Messi and his teammates at three other venues – Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi – after the nasty mess in Kolkata.
Incidentally, one must never miss another hilarious co-related event – unveiling of a 70-foot Messi statue holding the World Cup which was virtually done by the Argentine captain. Memes and satirical texts made a mincemeat of the initiative as the statue resembled everyone except Messi!
Earlier, Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona who twice visited Kolkata, unveiled a statue of himself holding the World Cup in 2017 in the presence of thousands of fans.
Genesis: Wrapped Up ?
Coming back to the point; the genesis of the ‘plague leading to gangrene’ must have been wrapped up somewhere else! Because Satadru is widely recognized for organizing soccer bonanzas by legendary footballers to India.
His “A Satadru Dutta Initiative’ had earlier been ‘blamed’(!) for bringing such iconic players as Pele and Diego Maradona to the country and the events were conducted without any hitch in this Salt Lake Stadium itself. The just-concluded Messi tour, he had also claimed, would be a historic milestone for the soccer fans of India.
Not only that, Dutta had even reportedly expressed his keen desire to rope in Portuguese soccer phenomenon Cristiano Ronaldo sometime next year. Naturally, fans and the administration must have reposed faith in him; otherwise, Dutta wouldn’t have received a go-ahead for the Messi tour.
Kala Dal, Alibis & Fantasy Algorithms
Obviously, dal me kuch kala hai. But where is that kala dal is abundantly clear to the intelligent people of the state.
Nevertheless, Brutus is an honourable man!
As poor Satadru spends a 14-day judicial custody and fans keep on shrieking “We have been scammed”, the hapless citizens and disillusioned spectators will have to digest in the next few weeks or so various fantasy algorithms, responsibility-shirking alibis and sack loads of cover-up materials so that the Messi mayhem may not turn so messy as to rock the very boat of the ‘crown in the ensuing voyage’ billed next year.
Finally, may we be left satisfied with a conclusion? These men are bodies without definition; these men exist in a state of paralysis:
“Rat’s coat, crow skin, crossed staves
In a field.” (T S Eliot)
What's Your Reaction?
