If Facebook is the place to find out who is getting married and Instagram what everyone is eating, then Twitter is where angry people come together. Given how gloomy Twitter is, it is but natural then this platform also attracts the wittiest, funniest, cheekiest people.
Take, for instance, Pakalu Papito. He (or she) describes himself on Twitter as “started from gas station now we here”. A serious moustached man stares from his profile photo, but no one knows who Papito really is. Yet he has 5.1 million followers, which is more than what many Chief Ministers have, and could as well stand for an election if the number of followers one has is ever a measure of popularity. Papito strikes a chord because he lacks motivation and is forever exhausted. His short statements — “I need a hug…………..e amount of money” and “i get butterflies when i think about myself” — get anything from 8K to 51K retweets.
Much like Papito is @sosadtoday, an account created by a woman called Melissa Broder. Broder regularly tweets thoughts on depression and has gained a massive following that includes singers Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry. The account sure sounds depressing (and it is), but it is Broder’s sense of humour that makes @sosadtoday amusing. When she says, “weekend plans: regret past, fear future”, thousands nod along. “being an adult sounds really bad,” she says; we agree wholeheartedly.
But if @pakalupapito and @sosadtoday sound Eeyore-like for you, there are plenty of parody accounts that guarantee a good laugh. The handle @KhapPanchayat parodies… well, khap panchayats.
The handle’s description sums it up: “Making the world a better place, one missing couple at a time…” @KhapPanchayat takes digs at patriarchy with dark humour. “No one was listening when people spoke on serious issues anyway,” says the person who began it and who doesn’t want to be identified. “People ignored facts and stuck to their own opinions anyway, so I thought, why not exaggerate and poke some fun?”
Subversive touch
@KhapPanchayat has a subversive take on pollution: “Saddened at the state of air quality in NCR. What kind of environment are we leaving for our future male children to live in?” And of course on its pet subject, women: “If women don’t want to be abused or molested they should leave their short clothes and political opinions at home.” @KhapPanchayat has 20.3K followers that include writers Taslima Nasreen and Meena Kandasamy.
Similarly, there are parody accounts of Narendra Modi (@NorinderMudi: “PM awf India, teak che. I love DOKLA and forign t00rz”) and Rahul Gandhi (@RoflGandhi), if you are tired of politics but can’t tear yourself away from it. @RealHistoryPic tweets photos of political situations with sarcastic, witty captions that often target the government of the day.
And how can Internet exist without animals? @WeRateDogs and @thecatreviewer tweet photos of dogs and cats with captions like: “Meet Polly. She can’t believe you won’t lend her even a smidgen of your burrito. 12/10,” eliciting an “awww” from all animal-lovers on Twitter.
Twitter isn’t a place for humans and animals alone, omnipresent God (@TheTweetofGod) is there too and is generally unhappy with the world (“You’re all doing this totally wrong” and “I apologize to some of you for most of you”). Sometimes He even regrets His own creations (“Elephants are like people, only humane”). Lately, God, who is actually David Javerbaum, long-time producer of the Daily Show , has been busy despairing over U.S. President Donald Trump’s decisions. So, really, Twitter isn’t so depressing at all. It teaches you that when life gives you lemons, make humour out of them.
Published - December 09, 2017 08:38 pm IST
