Picture this as fun

Manpriya Singh 

What happens when Lady Gaga meets MET Gala? What do Avengers’ Infinity War and Rahul Gandhi have in common? Trumped? Speaking of which (the word trump that is), it’s also the same dot that connects Narendra Modi and Donald Trump. Trolls would be a very close answer. But it’s the much lighter, more civilised and definitely much more neutral version of trolls, which is fondly termed as memes. 

Welcome to the funnier, pictorial and the contextual side of social media, where what you see is what you interpret! Not the stand that either of Mamta Banerjee or Priyanka Sharma supporters would like to take after the latter superimposed Banerjee’s face on Priyanka’s picture from the MET Gala, but what the heck, it’s better to be infamous than not-so-famous right? Which is precisely how Priyanka Chopra must have looked at things after her never-ending trench coat that swept the red carpet (we mean literally too)! 

Gala affair

Not that this year was any different. Forget the make-up, the outfit, just remember the hair. Which were more than enough for comparisons with Mad Hatter, Veerapppan’s moustache, Sri Lankan cricketer  Lasith Malinga, among of course other things. We don’t know how much charity did the event raise this year, but several sites had to come up with the best memes of 2019 with a special section on the MET Gala. All thanks to the countless candles on Katy Perry’s chandelier outfit, the golden Egyptian Pharoah look of Billy Porter and Jared Leto’s accessory, his chopped head in his hand.

Smriti special

Smriti Irani, a yet another meme favourite, likes to post them too on her social media.  Be it the wait for Deepika Ranveer’s wedding pics that made her post a skeleton sitting on a bench or a meme to do with Sunday evening blues, she is a regular.  She also once posted a meme of Jethlal from the comedy show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah saying “Kya takleef hai apko”, with the caption, “#when someone reminds you on a Sunday that ‘kal Monday hai’.” It was only a matter of the minister posting the meme on her account that trollers wasted no time in contextualising the picture. “That’s the face she makes when asked for her degree,” a user wrote. The point is… she connected!  

Just in case you thought the memes to do with campaigning, rallies and speeches were enough, wait when the results pour in!

Be sensitive

“Memes are cute things, sometimes to laugh at the most serious things in life. But one should be careful of sensitive subjects like religion and caste. The idea is not to hurt anyone’s sentiments,” says Vaishnavi MacDonald, who personally makes memes and videos for her social media pages.  “My favourite memes would be the ones on Shaktimaan, I just did one on him. There are a lot of other people in the industry whose works I admire.” 

Just overlook

“I don’t think so I would be offended at all. Lot of people would be always around, saying all sorts of things. The idea is to overlook. As Rajesh Khanna said, “Kuch toh Log Kaheinge, Logo Ka Kaam Hai Kehna. So let people be,” TV actor Imran Khan believes in not reacting than overreacting to things that social media has to throw our way.