It’s Snapchat, not Snapdeal: Twinkle Khanna blogs about trollers mixing up Sonu Nigam-Sonu Sood

In the column for TOI, she says, “The virtual streets are crowded with declarations of, ‘The CEO of Snapchat has said that his app is not for poor countries like India!’ Sane voices try intervening, ‘Calm down folks, this is a statement made by a disgruntled ex-employee attributing it to the CEO!’ But they are drowned out in a roar, ‘Chup kar, uninstall Snapdeal!’ And, ‘But Bhaisaab it is Snapchat not Snapdeal!’ is met with bursts of ‘Don’t teach us, all snap snap same same!’”

Wasn’t this just what happened in the last few days? The virtual population has digressed so much that more importance is given to creative trolling than the matter at hand. It is us who brandished our mobile phones like weapons and strategised war with 140 characters. We did not give attention to farmers who are dying of hunger and are poor because of a drought that hit their state. But, when an ex-employee said that the CEO of Snapchat called us poor we readily uninstalled the app. The current generation is quite a conundrum.

Twinkle also makes a valid observation of the mindset of the majority. She wrote about this conversation with her Mummy Ji where she says, “That’s not what happened but Mummy ji there is no denying that we are a poor country. A recent World Bank report says that India has the largest number of people living under the $1.90-a-day poverty line, so what’s wrong?’” To which, Kanchan aunty, who is also present replies, “Understand one thing beta, if your son is a dambar ka tukda and you affectionately call him Kalu Singh, it is ok. But if your neighbor calls him Kaalia then will you not throw boiling dal on her face?”

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That is called hitting the bullseye. In simple words, we, as a society, are more worried about what others think of us. What we think of ourselves has no effect whatsoever, on how we shape our lives. It doesn’t matter if our country doesn’t have the right help to offer its poor farmers, but, dare someone calls us poor – we come with the ‘smartest’ way to retaliate.