Kolkata ~ For Ichhapur tea seller Shib Shankar Patra, Argentine superstar Lionel Messi’s arrival in Kolkata on Saturday will be more than a dream fulfilled. It will be a moment he believes he “survived to see”.

Patra, 56, is one of two diehard fans handpicked for a special meet-and-greet with the Argentine superstar, a gesture the organisers planned after his story drew widespread media attention.

Once a club-level footballer, Patra built an entire life around his devotion to Argentina and Messi. Ahead of his visit to Kolkata with the national side to play a FIFA friendly against Venezuela in 2011, Patra painted his three-storey house in Nawabganj blue and white, turned his decades-old tea stall into an “Argentina fan club”, and installed a life-size statue of Messi at the entrance.

In

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