It’s Messi when you beat an egg. Welcome 2023

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Today is India’s Republic Day. It is the day when the Indian Constitution came into effect replacing the Government of India Act which was a derivative of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Indian Constitution is one of the longest in the world comprising “a preamble, 22 parts with 448 articles, 12 schedules, 5 appendices, and 115 amendments”. The document was 251 pages and weighed 3.75 kgs. ?It appears it took 2 years, 11 months, and 18 days to complete. The original was handwritten by master calligrapher, Prem Behari Narain Raizada, who used 254 #303 pen-holder nibs. He went through 432 of these nibs! When asked what he would charge for his magnum opus he said he would do it free if he could sign his name on every page and add his granddad’s name on the last page. I have scoured several images of the constitution and can’t find his signature. [Vasant Krishan Vaidya hand wrote the Hindi version]. ?In short, big fat book, verbose, grand all to commemorate a great democracy and a fabulous, loving people. Speaking of people, lots of people, let’s come to football.

If you have met a Messi fan, you will understand what I am about to say. If not, I have some advice. Avoid these people! I can’t get away from his tribe because a mini chieftain of his lives under our roof - he is my youngest son. ?When the Qatar World Cup aired on Sunday 18th Dec 2022, Gunny Goodfella Francois Chou Chou, our French Brittany, and I, had settled in to cheer our favorite team, France. And all was well till Messi Junior decided to watch the game in the same room as us. And, oh my ……where do I start?

It was reality drama at its best - the screams, wails, grumbling, cursing, hysteria …. clearly France had absolutely no right to win. How dare they catch up and shoot two goals? Shall we charge them with grand larceny if they even kicked the ball. The ball was, after all, Messi’s and only his to possess.

In 2018, 1.2 billion people watched the game live and another 2.372 billion watched it afterwards. That’s a total of 3.5B (one half of the world’s population). Gianni Infantino the FIFA President predicted an audience of 5B people for the 2022 final match. It would be fair to assume that 2.5B of those folks have heard of Messi or seen him in action. Every word he says, every field argument, foul is watched by 30% of the world’s population. At one point he muttered, ?Qué miras, bobo? (what are you looking at, dummy) at some player and this became a world famous meme and a bestselling T-shirt. Viewership on his FIFA World Cup Instagram post beat a four-year record held by a photo of a bald, plain, simple egg.?Chris Godfrey, an advertising exec, posted Serghei Platanov’s Shutterfly picture of an egg on Instagram and it reached an all-time record of 53.3m likes. Serghei is said to have told Insider, “Egg is just an egg. It does not pretend to be an image for getting fans, it does not pretend to be Faberge’s egg or imagining “would I look better if I am colored for Easter? What color fits me best?” It is not hunting for anyone’s attention. It is a simple egg.”?It is said that 1.6 trillion eggs are produced every day. These little guys need no attention – they outnumber us and the 700m domesticated rabbits on earth. Which brings us to the Year of the Rabbit, 2023.?

2023 was welcomed by 8 billion people on our little blue planet. I hope it turns out to be just as cute as the furry fellas – we need some peace after 2 years of pandemic ridiculousness. I also hope people use this year to listen more than they speak as a mark of respect to the rabbit whose ears are sort of epic. Nobel microbiologist Robert Koch said that one day humans will have to fight noise pollution just as they had to battle tuberculosis. It appears the great Napoleon Bonaparte said, “Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand silent ones.”

My dad once said, “the silence of greatness is humility”. So, I hope 2023 is the year of silence. Of humility.

Meanwhile, if you are Indian and celebrating Republic Day, enjoy! And please, spend a quiet minute thinking of the king of football, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, aka Pele, who died recently.

Onwards. Upwards.

With much love from your fearless follower.?