What do you do when the God of football visits your city and you get a VVIP pass to meet him in person? You count to 100 and remind yourself to breathe.

But, for a news person mostly tuned to reading the crowd, too, the meet and greet with Lionel Messi at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) on Sunday afternoon was a revelation in egalitarianism. Some of the faces waiting to meet the ‘GOAT’ were popular ones, some attached to great wealth. Yet, the organisers made sure to treat them like they did everyone else there, because… rules! It was wonderful to see celebrities — a shout-out to Shahid Kapoor here — respectfully put away their phones.