Russia is now a big soccer field. On its left, like a red ball placed on the penalty spot, is Moscow. That was how the picture of Russia came up in mind when the Russian map appeared on the television screen on an Emirates Airlines flight.
Like the 12-foot distance from the penalty spot to the goal, the information provided on the television screen on the flight said Moscow is just seven km away. The mind throbbed like the player taking the final kick of a penalty shootout.
The Moscow that was familiar only on the maps during school days is just a few kilometres away; the World Cup that used to be played only on the television screens is just three days away. A great opportunity to witness the 21st Fifa World Cup in the 21st century.
Football fever
'Ya ne ponimayu' – is the first Russian sentence that one encounters after landing in Moscow. That was the reply given by a Russian girl when asked about handicraft products displayed for sale near the Domodedovo airport.
I don't understand. A Russian man standing next to her told us with a smile on his face, "She hasn't understood what you are asking. And that is what she said, ya ne ponimayu (I don't understand)."
Found a big cut-out of a football player and decided to check out how the football fever has spread in Moscow. Nothing. Couldn't find even a keychain in the shape of a football. A girl, who said her name is Marina Sumakhova, gave the reason for this, "There is another shop of ours round the corner. We have all football merchandise there."
Marina's shop is full of baby dolls, right from Indian gods to Russian people wearing their traditional dress. But, the figures that are displayed in front of the shop are of others -- world leaders from Russian president Vladimir Putin to US president Donald Trump. Putin's figures are in both military and non-military attire.
Trump's pictures have the American flag in the background. From the Russian side, there are figures of Boris Yeltsin and all other past presidents. The figures of Barack Obama and George Bush are just half the size of Trump's. On why the size of Obama figure was small, Marina gave a political reason – the demand is low unlike earlier.
But there was something that could surprise many. After Putin and Yeltsin, on the right there was a statuette of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known by the alias Lenin, the founder of Soviet Union. If Putin's figure cost 2100 roubles, Lenin's figurine was going cheap at 700 roubles, one-third less.
Though Lenin's statue in front of Luzhniki Stadium and his body in his mausoleum is still revered, the current Russia doesn't belong to Lenin. It belongs to Putin. That is the case with the World Cup too. It is an open secret Putin is aiming to wow the western countries by hosting the World Cup in Russia.
Russia's attempt to bring the World Cup to the country started when it unexpectedly reached the semi-finals of the Euro Cup in 2008 under the training of Guus Hiddink. It won the bid in 2010.
Russia has left no stone unturned to make the World Cup a grand success. The extravagance is seen in the way the venues were chosen and stadiums were built. It spent 1.1 billion US dollars (about Rs 7,500 crore) to build the stadium at St Petersburg, the second venue in Moscow.
There was politics in the way the World Cup matches were allotted to small cities instead of confining them to bigger ones. Like Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India, the faraway Kaliningrad too became a venue. Kaliningrad is a province which lies away on the main map of Russia, squeezed between Poland and Lithuania.
Beginning June 14 in Luzhniki and until it ends on July 12 in Luzhniki, this is not just a football world cup but a political spectacle too. Here Messi and Ronaldo are all one -- the yesteryear judo star Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.