New Delhi, Dec. 20 -- When I heard Kolkata was building a 70-foot statue of Lionel Messi and he would inaugurate it virtually during his visit to Kolkata, I winced.

I don't play football. I don't follow the game. I couldn't explain the offside rule if my life depended on it.

But in 2011 I was asked to cover Messi's visit to Kolkata. I didn't have a ticket to the actual exhibition match between Argentina and Venezuela at the Yuva Bharati Krirangan. So I stood in front of his hotel and tried to cobble together copy by interviewing the Messi-hopefuls hanging out outside.

I could not reveal my football ignorance to them. So I just nodded knowingly as one young man rhapsodised about Robbie Fowler's 3-minute hat trick against Arsenal. I neve...