My father died when I was in grade school. Mom drank. No siblings. I was a little, scrawny kid who got beat up a lot. A pretty unhappy childhood that led to an unhappy adulthood. Then in 1977, this chubby guy from India said to give him the reins of my life and he will give me peace and, well, that sounded like a good deal at that time of my life. The "God-like distance" left a lot of room for me to make up my own fantasy about PR.
I don't remember the premies being particularly warm, but they did their best to take care of the aspirants.