A crowd of football fans lean forward as Mani, Singapore’s World Cup-forecasting parakeet, creeps out of his small wooden cage and chooses between two white cards - one hiding the flag of the Netherlands, the other Spain.
If the bird’s many new believers are right, Holland will win its first World Cup championship on Sunday. Mani grabbed a card in his beak on Friday and flipped it over to reveal the Dutch flag.
Picture is (C) copyright to The Hindu
Mani the parakeet (or parrot as we know them in India) is an astrologer's assistant in Singapore's Little India and has become quite the local celebrity when he correctly predicted the outcome of the quarterfinal ties as well as the semifinals.
Chomping on seeds and apples between cards, the Malaysian-born Mani hopped out of his cage and made a beeline for Uruguay, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany.
“People usually want help picking the lottery numbers, or when to get married,” said Muniyappan, who was born in India and moved to Singapore in 1953. “Then gamblers started asking about the World Cup.”
Muniyappan said about 30 people a day now pay for his psychic powers, up from about 10 a day before Mani shot to fame.
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