A hotel suite in which the late Diego Maradona stayed during his visit to Kerala in 2012 has been renamed after him and converted into a museum in his memory. Maradona, who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 60, had stayed in the room number 309 at Kannur’s Blue Nile Hotel during his visit eight years ago.
“Three months before Maradona arrived, his team came to inspect hotels in Kannur. They selected our hotel and gave us a list of preparations that they wanted for a VIP’s stay, without revealing the name. We thought that it would help our business too. Two rooms were joined together and made into a large suite room. We arranged everything as they mentioned. Later in October we were informed that the guest was Maradona. I was overjoyed, because I was a great fan of the game and of Maradona,” Ravindran, the owner of Blue Nile hotel says.
The room is only giving out to other customers as ‘Maradona special suite’. “We give the room only to people who are fans of Maradona and to those who come in search of the room, because everyone may not maintain the room as it is and won’t understand the value,” he said.
“It was like god coming to our hotel. So we made sure that everything was perfect. Prior to Maradona’s arrival we read that he is used to Russian cuisine. So I appointed a person who had previously worked as a chef in Russia. Prawns, salads, carrots and sweet lemon juices were the things Maradona mainly ordered. He doesn’t speak English so his secretary spoke to us,” he added.
Maradona stayed in the hotel for two days. Ravindran recalls how thousands of people gathered around in his hotel just to catch a glimpse of Maradona.
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