A representational image of the memes by India and Pakistan online.
| Photo Credit: Arivarasu M
You and I know that this is a time of national strife. India has suspended the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 post the terror attack that killed 26 people at Pahalgam, Kashmir on April 22. Visas of Pakistanis living in India have been revoked, and the words ‘escalating tensions’ and ‘security lapses’ cannot seem to escape news copies. Most recently, India banned Pakistani airlines from using its air space, and more stringent action can be expected.
There is an imminent threat of war.
Amidst these escalating tensions (see what I did there), lies a video, of a young man waiting at a courier shop in India. ‘To Hania Aamir, Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan. From India’, he writes — his package, full of water bottles to the attractive Pakistani actress, in case she runs out as a consequence of the treaty.
War is serious business and nationalists on both sides are upset about how we treat one another, with guns, grief and disrespect. However, if we have been able to observe anything based on the barrage of memes that have surfaced online from both sides of the Line of Control, it is this. Lay Indians and Pakistanis are unserious people. We are burnt out and helpless because of governments, armies and militants. We are hence, doing what we do best — coping with content.
Why else would Pakistanis ask if they needed to bring bags to school on the day of war? Why else would they incessantly troll themselves at the hapless state of poverty in their nation or the fact that their gas supply gets cut off at 9.15pm every night? Why are there fit checks being made in anticipation of bombs?
When Twitter user Man Aman Singh Chhina (with 41.9k followers) writes “Launch missiles on Muridke, Lahore and Bahawalpur bases of Pakistani terrorists. Reduce them to ashes,” Pakistanis are amused about Muridke, part of the ‘International Cities of Peace’ in Sheikhupura district, Punjab, having made it to the list. There are also memes of Indians protecting Atif Aslam and giving him a sip of water as his voice is considered a treasure on both sides.
As I write this, I realise that explaining memes makes them deeply unfunny, but you get the drift.
There are enough sigma reel cuts of Pakistani fighter jets trying to fend off Indian missiles; and of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s eyes streaming laserjets to destroy Pakistan, that have also flooded the Internet. However, misery and nihilism from both sides of the border feel far more palpable. We’d all just rather give up and get on with our lives and not associate with wider discourse like militancy, occupation and death today because our individual lives are already hard. None of us are making enough money and this deeply visceral apathy for larger conversation would not happen unless war truly knocks on one’s doorstep. Disassociation is hence the name of the game, and a conscious debunking of this meme culture proves this.
Do the people from both sides of the border really truly hate each other? During India-Pakistan matches and on our respective Independence Days, this seems likely. Go to the comments section of songs from Pakistan’s Coke Studio like the runaway hit ‘Pasoori’ and find comments like this from user @mahendrayogi8323: “All Indians appreciating this song proving nationality doesn’t matter. Talent makes it a legendary song. Love from India (sic)”. Pop culture clearly proves otherwise.
Level up
SIMP — A simp is typically someone who loves and showers another with attention and compliments, even if not reciprocated. Long ago, it meant ‘simpleton’ but gone are those days. The term first became prominent on TikTok but was part of Black culture before it became part of common parlance. Its verb form is ‘simping’. Usage: Can you please stop simping over me?
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Published – May 02, 2025 05:39 pm IST
