Kolkata: Kolkata has been graced by the presence of the likes of Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Gerd Muller, Ruud Gullit, Oliver Kahn over the years. But the football crazy city has got another aromatic news as Uruguayan football legend Enzo Francescoli is all set to visit Kolkata during the festive season of Durga Puja. A travel agency, who are trying to make Durga Puja – a part of tourism for European and South American countries, is bringing Francescoli to Kolkata during the biggest festival of the Bengalis this year, which www.xtratime.in revealed before as well.
Along with Francescoli, Kolkata is all set to witness the “miracle man”, the man who won his death, the rugby legend who is a well-known figure across the globe, both as a sportsperson and as a motivator – Gustavo Zerbino.
Gustavo Zerbino would no doubt be a star attraction as his life itself is nothing less than an unbelievable phenomenon. Zerbino was a survivor of the the ill-fated Andes Plane Accident which costed a lot of lives of the players and their families. Later a movie called “Alive” was also made on it in 1993.
In 1972, Gustavo became an example of overcoming all adversities when he and his two friends of that Rugby team managed to survive a famous plane crash in the Andes, later recreated in the film Alive. The man who is bringing the duo, Jaydeep Mukherjee, told XtraTime, “It is a proud moment for all of us and a character like Gustavo will add a special dimension to our purpose to globalize Durga Puja.” He added, “His story inspired uncountable human beings including the top celebrities in the world of sports like Maradona and Francescoli. When the plane crash happened, Gustavo told me a story of his incredible struggle. He always says that he died thrice on that phase of his life..” He seemed still thrilled as he continued, “In the first eleven days, Gustavo and the other survivors used to eat chocolates and wine stored for the pilot. When those things got finished, he started eating lipsticks. Then they started eating the sponge of the seats to stay alive. And when there was nothing to it, Gustavo and his fellow survivors started eating human flesh of the dead-bodies to stay alive. They stayed and battled over there for almost 71 days before three of them decided to came out of it and then eventually came out of the jaws of death.”
Jaydeep still seemed enthralled in that aura of meeting him as he said, “It’s a grand moment for all the Indians to see such a legendary personality. India have seen Pele, Maradona, Messi, Kahn ; but Gustavo’s arrival would be something huge.”
Francescoli and Gustavo will visit a few top cities of India like Agra and Varanasi before coming to Kolkata on the Maha Saptami morning. No doubt, Kolkata too would be enriched by these two amazing inspirations in the biggest festival of the Bengalis.