Lionel Messi’s 39th birthday celebrations in Bengal’s Ichhapur

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Messi’s birthday celebrations at Shib Shankar Patra’s home in Ichhapur | Photo Credit: Shreya Banerjee 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. Messi after winning the FIFA World Cup in 2022 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement The lanes were draped in blue and white. Banners fluttered overhead, streamers crisscrossed narrow streets, and posters bearing Messi’s face watched over the celebrations. A priest performed a puja before a life-sized statue of the footballer as neighbours, football fans and curious visitors gathered to mark Argentina’s most formidable forward’s 39th birthday. And this is not the first time, 52 year old tea seller and Messi devotee Shib Shankar Patra has been organising Messi’s birthday for the last 12 years. Shibe da’s home | Photo Credit: Shreya Banerjee Shib Shankar Patra’s devotion has made the annual celebrations a local institution. “He is God to me,” Shib Shankar or ‘Shibe da’ as he is fondly known as, says. This year’s festivities, however, were tinged with the possibility of an ending. “This is probably the last year he will play and as he quits football, I will stop celebrating his birthday as well,” he says, averting his gaze. Decorations for Messi’s birthday | Photo Credit: Shreya Banerjee Shib’s dream was fulfilled in December 2025 when Messi arrived in Kolkata as a part of Messi’s G.O.A.T India tour organised by sports promoter Satadru Dutta. Amid the crowds and the frenzy surrounding the legend’s visit, he found himself face to face with the man whose images, posters and prized moments had long hung from the walls of his home and tea stall in Ichhapur. Of all the photographs presented that day, Messi signed only one connected to him which was a framed picture of Shib’s Argentina themed house and stall. Shibe da holding a framed phtotograph of his Argentina themed home signed by Lionel Messi | Photo Credit: Neha Patra / Instagram Shib recalls with great pride, “He called me and I went forward. I shook hands with him and blessed him, placing my hand on his head and saying ‘bhalo theko’,” Patra recalls. “Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul were there too. I blessed them as well and said ‘bhalo theko’. God helped me reach Messi.” He pauses before adding, “He is the greatest player of all time. I had said so in 2010 and I am saying so again.” The encounter acquired an almost improbable quality in hindsight. Messi's visit to Kolkata in December 2025 had left many fans heartbroken, with thousands spending significant sums and travelling long distances only to catch fleeting glimpses of the footballer. Complaints followed after his brief appearance at Yuva Bharati Krirangan, where many felt the barriers between the star and his admirers had been reserved for politicians, dignitaries and their families. Against that backdrop of disappointment, Shib met his hero and walked home with a signed photograph and a memory that has since acquired the glow of family folklore. A priest offering ‘durba’ or sacred grass to Messi’s life sized idol as part of the clebrations. | Photo Credit: Shreya Banerjee For his wife, Swapna Patra, the celebration has never been about football alone. “Messi amar gharer chhele (a child of our home),” she says. Messi is a son of the house. “Everyone sees him as a great footballer,

Lionel Messi’s 39th birthday celebrations in Bengal’s Ichhapur

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Lionel Messi’s 39th birthday celebrations in Bengal’s Ichhapur

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