Prime Minister Narendra Modi, making his podcast debut on Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath’s People by WTF series, said that he is aware of the memes that have been viral on social media for the last 1-2 years related to him and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. In this light-hearted conversation, Mr. Kamath asked the question about the viral “Melodi Memes” featuring him and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Also Read | “I’m Only Human, Not God”: PM Modi In Podcast Debut With Zerodha Chief Nikhil Kamath

“PM Sir, as we are talking about other countries, if I may digress a little, I must say my favourite food is pizza, which originates from Italy. People often say that you know a lot about Italy. Would you like to share something about it? Haven’t you seen those memes?” he asked again.

Watch the video here: 

To this, the Prime Minister responded, “Wo toh chalta rehta hai” (that’s an ongoing thing). “I don’t waste my time on that,” he added.

The two-hour podcast saw the Prime Minister sharing several anecdotes, including aspects of his childhood, education, entering politics, setbacks, handling stress, and policy management, among others.

The podcast trailer was shared by PM Modi himself on X, formerly Twitter. “I hope you all enjoy this as much as we enjoyed creating it for you!” PM Modi wrote.

The highly anticipated sale of Coldplay’s India concert tickets turned into a comedic frenzy on social media, as BookMyShow’s website crashed seconds before going live.

After an eight-year-long wait, the iconic British rock band is returning to India, with three concerts scheduled for January 18, 19, and 21, 2025, at Mumbai’s D.Y. Patil Sports Stadium. The much-anticipated event is part of their global Music of the Spheres World Tour. 

Tickets for the first two concert dates went on sale today at 12 PM IST on BookMyShow. However, the excitement overwhelmed the platform, which crashed just seconds before sales for the Mumbai shows began. BookMyShow quickly recovered and resumed operations, with the tickets for the January 18 and 19 shows selling out rapidly. 

While tickets for the first two days are no longer available, the ticketing process for the January 21 concert is still ongoing. Fans are eagerly trying to secure their spots for the final show.

Meanwhile, eager fans took to X to express their frustration and disappointment through hilarious memes. The hashtag #BookMyShow trended within minutes.

Take a look at some memes below:

#Coldplay#BookMyShow

Me asking my friends right now: pic.twitter.com/oanEGIVdDb

— Chatur Ki Memes (@ChaturKiMemes) September 22, 2024

Nobody can Fix us Now!!!#Coldplay#mumbai#bookmyshow#memepic.twitter.com/5AbEx1SIPh

— Kirti Vardhan (@thebrokenhash) September 22, 2024

????????????????????????#coldplay#BookMyShowpic.twitter.com/SRt0QBbOC1

— Tushar (@TheTusharLuthra) September 22, 2024

People in queue #Coldplay#BookMyShowpic.twitter.com/8uDdKnRlUP

— PJ | Burnt Maska (@Prajjwal08) September 22, 2024

Bookmyshow server be like: Sir mai kaam hi nahi karta kuch! ????#BookMyShow#Coldplaypic.twitter.com/v4eydcxWeo

— Karan Gupta (@Kar_toooon) September 22, 2024

Leaving the BookMyShow coldplay Mumbai concert queue!#Coldplay#BookMyShowpic.twitter.com/WwxxmoHwh7

— SaaS Junction || AI & SaaS Updates (@SaasJunctionHQ) September 22, 2024

My sister has been like this for nearly 3 hours trying to get a ticket for the Coldplay concert, and mom just said, “Come for lunch now, otherwise, the food will become just like your favorite music band. Cold.” ???? pic.twitter.com/IJ0JuxiBPM

— Zucker Doctor (@DoctorLFC) September 22, 2024

#Coldplaypic.twitter.com/lSkHaWfRZO

— Savage2.0 (@Meme_Canteen) September 22, 2024

Coldplay meme #Coldplayindia#BookMyShowpic.twitter.com/jbVEfR9c1E

— S H i V A M ???? ???? (@eternal_shivam) September 22, 2024

Coldplay out here pitching family against eachother pic.twitter.com/bNCbIn6wM9

— Gorangi (@gorangii09) September 22, 2024

#Coldplay#BookMyShow#BMS

Indian Singers watching people book tickets for Coldplay’s concert: pic.twitter.com/DG5XgUP3o9

— Chatur Ki Memes (@ChaturKiMemes) September 22, 2024

Initially, the concert was scheduled for January 18 and 19, 2025. However, fans’ overwhelming response prompted the band to add another night. The British rock band announced the new date on X stating: “Due to phenomenal demand, a third Mumbai date has been added at DY Patil Stadium for 21 January, 2025. Tickets on sale at 2PM IST today.”

A representation of cryptocurrency Dogecoin
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Japanese dog whose photo inspired a generation of oddball online jokes and the $23-billion Dogecoin cryptocurrency beloved by Elon Musk died on Friday, her owner said.

“She quietly passed away as if asleep while I caressed her,” Atsuko Sato wrote on her blog, thanking the fans of her shiba inu called Kabosu — the face of the “Doge” meme.

“I think Kabo-chan was the happiest dog in the world. And I was the happiest owner,” Sato wrote.

As a rescue dog, Kabosu’s real birthday was unknown but Sato estimated her age at 18, past the average lifespan for a shiba inu, with her birthday celebrated in November.

In 2010, two years after adopting Kabosu from a puppy mill where she would otherwise have been put down, Sato took a picture of her pet crossing her paws on the sofa.

She posted that image — with the fluffy shiba inu giving the camera a beguiling look — on her blog, from where it spread to online forum Reddit and became a meme that bounced from college bedrooms to office e-mail chains.

The memes typically used goofy broken English to reveal the inner thoughts of Kabosu and other shiba inu “doge” — pronounced like pizza “dough” but with a “j” at the end.

The picture also later became an NFT digital artwork that sold for $4 million and inspired Dogecoin, which was started as a joke by two software engineers and is now the eighth-most valuable cryptocurrency with a market capitalisation of $23 billion.

‘Unbelievable’ events

Dogecoin has been backed by hip-hop star Snoop Dogg, “Shark Tank” entrepreneur Mark Cuban and Kiss bassist Gene Simmons.

But its most keen supporter is probably the billionaire Musk, who jokes about the currency on X — sending its value soaring — and hails it as “the people’s crypto”.

Dogecoin has also inspired a plethora of other cheap and highly volatile “memecoins”, including spin-off Shiba Inu and others based on dogs, cats or Donald Trump.

Kabosu fell ill with leukaemia and liver disease in late 2022, and Sato said in a recent interview with AFP in her home of Sakura, east of Tokyo, that the “invisible power” of prayers from fans worldwide helped her pull through.

The 62-year-old Sato said she had become so used to “unbelievable” events that, when Tesla boss Musk changed the icon for Twitter, now X, to Kabosu’s face last year, she “wasn’t even that surprised”.

“In the last few years I’ve been able to connect the online version of Kabosu, all these unexpected things seen from a distance, with our real lives,” she told AFP.

A $100,000 statue of Kabosu and her sofa crowdfunded by Own The Doge, a crypto organisation dedicated to the meme, was unveiled in a park in Sakura in November last year.

Sato and Own The Doge have also donated large sums to international charities, including more than $1 million to Save the Children. The NGO says it is “the single largest crypto contribution” it has ever received.

“The Doge is the most popular dog of the modern era,” said Tridog, a pseudonymous member of Own The Doge, describing Kabosu as “the Mona Lisa of the internet”.