The Hindu Business Line : The Zidane magic

The magic combination of the French football star Zinedine Zidane and Bangladesh's Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus (Grameen Bank Managing Director) was a heady cocktail for the people of Dhaka earlier this week. As Zidane flew into Dhaka on Monday to inaugurate the joint venture of Grameen Bank with the French food major Groupe Danone to manufacture low-priced, fortified yoghurt, this football crazy nation had a blast for a full three days.

Adults and children alike screamed "Zizou" and mobbed the UN Goodwill Ambassador for the world wherever he went. Predictably, he was happiest and most relaxed when on the field, playing football with the Bangladeshi children and scoring goals.

Along with Yunus, he visited a Grameen bank micro credit project in a village in Ghazipur district, and played an impromptu football match with the deliriously happy children.

To watch the megastar playing with children whose feet were devoid of any kind of footwear drove home the gulf between the developed and developing world. But neither language nor footwear could create a barrier between the master and his followers and the magic chemistry between him and his young fieldmates came into play once the game began and he was all smiles and laughter. Proved yet again that the UN does choose its goodwill ambassadors with a lot of care!

Later he played an exhibition match with under-16 teams at the National Stadium in Dhaka.

He kept saying that he was "overwhelmed" at the reception he got and had never imagined that people here were so crazy about football.

On the last day of his visit, when he had to inaugurate the Grameen-Danone project at a five-star hotel in the city, it was a little stiff and slightly ill-at-ease celebrity who graced the occasion.

He walked into the hall and was mobbed by an aggressive group of photographers. Of course, security personnel kept both the media representatives and autograph seekers under control.

Zidane was not scheduled to address the meeting and Danone President and CEO Franck Riboud added the French touch of both humour and informality to keep the audience entertained.

At first, he took a good-natured potshot at Zidane, before turning his attention to Yunus. Pointing to the noisy group of photographers, he described how the previous day, too, Zidane was mobbed by the shutterbugs. "But then Zidane felt tired - he's getting a little old you know - and I can say this because he doesn't understand English, so he retired to his room."

Immediately, added Riboud, the photographers turned their attention to the other celebrity, the Noble Laureate Yunus.

The French CEO kept waiting for Yunus, too, to leave the scene, so that he could be under the flashbulbs next, but this proved to be wishful thinking. As taking a cue from Riboud, Zidane gave a slip to the media and disappeared before the scheduled press conference at the venue.

Riboud also recounted how the Danone-Grameen partnership had been cemented at an informal lunch in a Paris restaurant last November.

He had invited Yunus to find out more about Grameen, and Yunus asked him if the two could launch a joint venture.

"I immediately got up and shook his hand across the table and thinking that perhaps the French have the crazy habit of getting up and shaking hands during lunch, or that I did not understand English", Yunus kept repeating several times, in different ways, that this would be a non-profit entity.

When the French businessman kept agreeing to everything, "the clever man that he is, sent me an e-mail after going to Dhaka to confirm that I understood English".

Through his disarming and simple manner, Yunus was able to get a commitment from Zidane that he would return to Bangladesh to help the Nobel winner in his task of lifting people out of poverty.

As the entire country was swept off its feet by the Zidane magic, the Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed was quick to invite Zidane as an international observer during the January elections in the country.

(To be continued)