The popular page, Humans Of Bombay, is in news. The page had recently sued another page that tells stories of people. HoB filed a copyright lawsuit against another page, People Of India. However, following this, the person behind Humans Of New York called out HoB for filing a complaint considering HoB uses the same format which HONY has made popular.
Replying to Brandon Stanton’s tweet, HoB released a statement that technically backfired on them. The statement was out of touch. However, this isn’t the first time this is happening. Amidst this fiasco, people on the internet dug out old videos of the HoB founder – Karishma Mehta – where she has spoken about things that seemingly sound out of touch with reality. Here are five times where the founder strayed away from reality.
1. When she said people are happy with hustling.
People hustle because our system is designed as such. They hustle not to gain profits. Sometimes people hustle to make ends meet because they have no other option. Unlike CEOs who hustle for profits and gloss over this hustle mindset, the working class “hustles” in order to earn a survivable wage and feed themselves.
2. When she glossed over issues Indians go through on a daily basis.
Issues like rent or housing as Karishma Mehta mentioned are basic rights and no one, no matter where they stand on the financial ladder, should have to fight for it.
3. When she said we all would have been Nazis had it not been for Winston Churchill.
Yes, Churchill defied Hitler but this is a distasteful statement to make.
4. When she talked about her privilege.
The fact that she could afford to study abroad is a privilege in itself. The fact that she could ask her father for a loan in order to start HoB is a privilege in itself. Most people have to apply for loans and show a credit score to be able to apply for a loan. We are not denying her skills that have taken HoB to the level that it is at right now but calling yourself self-made amidst this is a statement to make.
5. When she said that she started HoB out of the blue.
During this HoB and HONY debate, people dug out this video of Karishma Mehta where she states that HoB started “out of the blue.”
Just plain mic drop moments.
Creatives: Sawan Kumari
