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Lionel Messi and Barcelona were synonymous. So the fans of one naturally became the fans of the other. But it would be safe to say that most of the current generation of Barca fans chose the club because of Messi, rather than the other way around. So when the holder of six Ballon D’Or had to leave FC Barcelona due to the club’s dire financial status, making the switch to PSG, those fans were left with mixed feelings. The news came hot on the heels of Messi’s sole major international trophy with Argentina at Copa America. Pratik Ghimire of ApEx spoke to 10 diehard Barcelona and Messi fans to understand the recent upheavals in their fandom.

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Binayak Bhattarai, 23

We had no television in our area in Dharan at the time of the 2006 World Cup, but somehow I had heard of Messi. Everybody used to talk of this Argentinian player and I started supporting him without even knowing how he looked. I first saw him during the World Cup of 2010 after cheering him on for almost four years blindly. That’s love, I guess.

Slowly, I started following club football. I still remember when I was in grade nine. My friends were Real Madrid supporters, and it was El Clasico. We had a bet of five rupees and Barca had scored five—one of my first and favorite memories with Messi. Most recently, Messi winning his first trophy with Argentina at Copa America was something special too.

I am yet to digest that Messi is no longer a Barcelona player. I saw PSG announce his arrival with a huge welcome. I am happy too as Messi has been able to unite PSG’s divided fan base even before his debut. He is the only player who can do that kind of thing.

Chhabin Dahal, 21

Messi was a regular name for me as my neighbors were huge Argentina fans. Influenced by them, I started following him starting with the 2010 World Cup. Sadly Argentina didn’t make it beyond the quarterfinals that year. Our area had installed a projector for the semis but for me the football festival was over. After that, I started going to cyber cafes to get the updates of La Liga games.

As a Messi fan I have seen many highs and lows. There have been some depressing moments supporting the team, but as soon as I see Messi play, I forget every other thing and enjoy a fresh start. Yet the 2014 World Cup final loss to Germany still stings, the Germans robbed us off the trophy.

I was confident that Messi would retire at Barca, but the circumstances didn’t allow that. But no worries, he now has a new challenge and he will show his worth at PSG as well.

Hema Giri, 19

This story begins in my school when boys used to compare Messi and Ronaldo and for no particular reason, I started chanting for Messi. When I started watching the game, I realized that his vision, touches, dribbling are out of this world. Aside from being a professional, he is a great human being, which we can see from the way he interacts with fans.

Every game Messi has played is special to me. But the game I recall most often was against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012, when he scored five and Barcelona won 7-1. Talking about the lows, like other Barca fans, I was heart-broken when the club announced his departure.

It still can’t get out of my head that he will play alongside Sergio Ramos, the bitter Real Madrid nemesis. I will definitely keep following Messi—I will never have enough of that majestic smile—but I also will never cheer for PSG.

Kritika Parajuli, 19

Like many, I started following Messi from the 2010 World Cup. The tournament didn’t go as planned but that was also the year the little man from Argentina made me fall in love with the game of football.

Most memorable for me is his 500th club goal in 2020, in what was a late winner at the Bernabeu, in the process of winning the El Clasico 3-2? When he held up his Number 10 shirt, standing against Real Madrid fans, gave me goosebumps I tell you. In 2016, Messi announced his retirement from international football following his third defeat in the Copa America final. Made me cry. Although he reversed his decision, I regret Messi had to go through all that.

I will never stop cheering for Barcelona because this is the club of my life. I won’t stop following Messi, either. Barca and Messi will always be thought of as one. I hope he comes back to the club—probably after a couple of years.

Nisha Karki, 20

I grew up with the people who used to cheer for Messi and to get along I did the same. But when I started watching the game, I realized what I did was 100 percent correct. No other player can play at his level. He is the greatest of all time, without a doubt.

Every time I see him on the pitch, I feel better about myself. Particularly, winning the sextuple in 2009 still makes me happy. Winning and losing are part of the game and Barca’s 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in 2020 was a team defeat, yet I felt so bad for Messi, in what was his most embarrassing defeat ever.

It would be shameful to withdraw support for Barca because of Messi’s departure, so I have decided to support both—Barcelona and PSG.

Rajnesh Shrestha, 21

I was randomly playing with the TV remote when I saw a small guy running past defenders with high acceleration. I watched him and loved every bit of the game and since 2008 became a fan of his.

In the World Cup qualifiers of 2018, Messi scored a hat trick against Ecuador. That was one of the most beautiful matches I have ever seen and in the recent Copa America winning campaign, too, I had tears of joy. I struggle to see Messi in a shirt besides Barcelona’s, but this is the hard reality, and something we must all accept now. But I cried the entire day when the news broke.

Although I am planning to watch Messi’s games at PSG, I am a proud culer and can’t even think of supporting any other club besides Barca.

Sachet Neupane, 22

There is a saying, “Guys will choose a random Football Club as their favorite in the fourth or fifth grade for no reason at all and decide to support it for the rest of their lives.” This applies to me. I randomly picked Argentina, and that led me to supporting Messi.

In 2017, April 24, my birthday, was also the night of the greatest football rivalry—El Clasico—at Madrid’s home-turf. The score was 2-2 and Messi stunned the crowd with a late winner in injury time. This is the best birthday gift I have ever received. On the other hand, the 2014 World Cup was a heartbreak for many fans and I was no exception.

Everything was sound with Messi’s saga. Both parties were determined to sign a new contract but, out of nowhere, the club announced his discontinuity. I couldn’t tell whether it was a bad dream. Initially, I thought it might be internal club politics but no, it was for real, which hurt. I will support Barca all my life but could still watch some PSG games to enjoy the magician at work.

Santosh Mishra, 46

This was before he came to Barcelona. I saw in a newspaper that a little boy was being compared to the legendary Diego Maradona, but I had not seen his game. After his debut in the Barca senior team, I saw Messi, and he instantly amazed me. I had started watching football in 1992 and this was the first time a player had impressed me.

The recent Copa America win was what was lacking in his resume and now things look complete. Among my many joys with Messi, it is at the top. Even if you play the best, sometimes a minor mistake will cost you the game. Similarly, Messi has lost several key games, which I find least enjoyable.

Many clubs bled during the Covid-19 pandemic and lost revenue. Barcelona could no more afford Messi, despite both parties’ willingness to be together. We have to accept the truth and enjoy the final years of Messi, no matter which club he represents. But I will keep supporting Barca as it has been my love since the early 90s.

Sitaram Dahal, 26

I started following Barca in the early 2000s and as I had no way of watching its matches, I used to go through the scores in newspapers. And that’s where, for the first time, I saw the iconic picture of Messi on the back of Ronaldinho. He had special gameplay, and I loved his every touch. And I had a chance to watch him at his prime.

Barca’s sextuple winning moment and the entire season that year were very special for me, but above all, Messi’s first international trophy, Copa America, nothing can beat that. This Copa brought joy because the previous one had left us in tears after Messi missed the penalty in the shootout against Chile in the final. But no regrets now—everything happens for a reason.

Messi is a silent guy. He doesn’t speak much. He was still on vacation and the news came that he couldn’t continue at Barca. The developments happened so fast. I choked up when I saw Messi crying at his farewell press conference at Barca. As a football fan, I keep myself updated on all major European top-flight football and this time, I will be a bit more concerned about PSG, that’s all.

Sudeep Aryal, 21

Messi, football, and Barcelona are synonyms for me. Messi is the reason I started watching regular football and Barca was where he showed his masterclass.

For me, nothing compares to his going to the crowd to celebrate Barca’s iconic 6-1 come-back against PSG in 2017. Now, the same PSG is his new home, which gives me mixed feelings. But I see that PSG will treat him well and he will be happy there, which is some consolation. Last year, he wanted to go, but Barca didn’t let him and now he wanted to stay but the league forced him out. I am so frustrated.

Well, it’s time to peek at the final score-sheets of PSG, no more than that. Barca is where my heart is.

‘Tito Satya’ stars Deepak Raj Giri and Deepashree Niarula have invested Rs 90 million in a multiplex hall located at New Baneshwor’s Sankhamul road. The theater will have two auditoriums, according to Giri.

Giri and Niraula, along with their team, hope the hall will be ready by March-April next year. Giri says the money from this theater will be invested back into the film industry. Similarly, Niraula believes that opening a new theater at a time when movie halls are being shut across the country will send a positive message to the prospective audience and reignite their love for Nepali films.

The team also hopes to release more Nepali and Nepal-based movies to promote the country’s film industry and give artists more exposure. 

Born in Thame village of the mountainous Solukhumbu district of Nepal, Mingma Sherpa was only 18 when he first reached Camp IV of the Everest region as a porter in 1998. The next year, aged 19, he got to the peak of the highest mountain in the world. Then, in the following 17-odd years, Sherpa would become a mountain guide and a climber who has by now conquered Everest 10 times, apart from peaking a host of other famous Nepali peaks. 

Sherpa’s glorious mountaineering career came to a halt due to his father’s untimely demise in the 2014 Everest disaster. Sherpa’s father—a cook at Camp II—was among the 16 who died in an ice avalanche at the Khumbu Icefall. “My family was worried for me after that. So I quit climbing in 2016,” Sherpa says. He still makes a livelihood from the mountains though. His entrepreneurial venture Climbalaya that he started with a friend in 2015 takes tourists up to the mountains and helps them ascend Nepali peaks. 

But without a proper tourist season for the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sherpa’s life has drastically changed and so have the lives of thousands of people from his region who relied on tourism activities for their livelihood. “Almost 70 percent of the Sherpa people depend on tourism,” he says. “We have suffered heavy losses starting from the 2015 earthquake. We were just recovering when the pandemic hit.” 

With no alternative means of survival, the Sherpa community has been suffering from lack of basic resources, Sherpa says. In times like these, he has stepped up to organize relief for his community in the mountains. “I was in the US right after the 2015 earthquake and was planning to settle there. Then I thought I still had a lot to do in the country while I was quite young and came back,” Sherpa says.

Sherpa’s career as a social worker began after that. He has been organizing relief packages as well as scholarship opportunities for the people of his community. Recently, after the climbing season took a hit following the Covid-19 outbreak in early 2020, Sherpa provided six months’ essential ration to around 450 households in wards four and five of the Khumbu Pasanglhamu rural municipality. The relief worth Rs 17 million was supplied with the support of the Tenzin Norgay Sherpa Foundation. 

“I come from a very poor background and I know what monsoon or a low climbing season does to people in our region,” says Sherpa. “I have thus set out to help the people of the mountains in whatever way possible.” Sherpa’s support for the community does not end with relief packages. He believes education is most important for the community’s betterment. So he has also organized higher education scholarships in Kathmandu for post-SEE students from his community. There are currently six students under the scholarship and Sherpa plans on further increasing the number. 

“Due to my family’s status, I could not study beyond grade nine. Actually, I chose to start working very early in life and educate my three sisters instead,” Sherpa says. “Now I want to educate as many young people from the community as possible.” The scholarships Sherpa offers provide students full funding to complete their Bachelors in the subjects of their choice. While the scholarships are merit-based and completely sponsored, Sherpa also signs a contract with the students where they pledge to go back to their communities after their studies and share their knowledge among their people to inspire another generation of students. 

Along with education, Sherpa is also focusing on promoting the Thame village and the surrounding region. “The Thame village has given the world some of the most renowned climbers in history. The likes of Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, Ang Rita Sherpa, Kami Rita Sherpa, Apa Sherpa and Pasanga Lhamu Sherpa, all come from our village,” Sherpa explains. “Still I feel the country as well as the world overlooks our legacy. My goal is to let the world know of our village.” 

If the Covid-19 does not play spoilsport, Sherpa plans to organize the “Ice and Rock” festival at Thame in January-February 2022. The almost three-week-long festival will have both local and international participation and feature a 14-day climbing training as well as various competitions. The project is currently under discussion with related ministries and Sherpa expects the approval to come soon. “We already have the approval to build the Tenzing Norgay memorial park in Thame. Now if we can go ahead with this festival, I am sure we can bring many more tourists to the region.”

Actor Anmol KC has signed for the upcoming action thriller movie ‘X9’ which is to be directed by Mukunda Bhatta, best known for his direction of ‘Lappan Chhappan.’ The actor had been talking to the team for months.

The Golden Hills Pictures’ film will go into production from January and will be shot at multiple locations including in Canada, the UAE and Europe. Along with KC, the audience will also see Saugat Malla, Pushpa Khadka, Anoop Bikram Shahi and Raj Katuwal on the big screen.