Delhi’s Vada Pav Girl and Kumari Aunty – where are we heading?

 

There was a time when journalism was a noble career and journalists worked for years without becoming famous. We have had very few known faces.

Smartphones made everyone a journalist, a video editor, a TV producer, an anchor, and the deliverer of News and importantly judgements. There is no course on Smartphone journalism, and it is like the Wild West – Anything goes. People simply shoot what they want and upload. There is no editing and everything is extremely raw.

The example of smartphone vultures feasting on businesses is a dime a dozen. The small businesses thrive on whatever publicity they can get and invite these vultures to take videos and reels of their businesses. After all, it is free publicity. The business owners have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Some small businesses may give paltry sums or a free meal, but most don’t.

Kumari Aunty a small street food vendor  gained prominence over the last two years in social media with her witty commentary and the way she serves her customers. No one knows about the taste, but the cost of a meal was very reasonable.

But things spiralled out of control and her place of business became a traffic hazard. GHMC moved in and seized her business. This led to a hue and cry and Chief Minister Revanth Reddy intervened and let her restart her business.

The flip side is Kumari Aunty has become a celebrity and many real and wannabe celebrities queue up at her stall. Kumari Aunty appeared  in a  TV show, Suma the well-known anchor spoofed her and Netflix wants to do a documentary.

There are also news items that people are coming over from neighbouring states and even from Bangladesh to savour the dishes made by Kumari Aunty. Is it worth it?? I am sure it is not, but this is the hype that social media creates.

The problem with untrained smartphone journalists is that they have minimal comprehension of the actual issues that the society is facing like corruption, the elections, women's safety, environmental pollution and water scarcity.

They see Kumari Aunty getting famous and hundreds take their mobile phone and raid her humble food joint. It is a great inconvenience to the customers, the traffic on that road and poor Kumari Aunty herself.

Has Kumari Aunty gained? I would say yes, and no. Gained publicity but made many enemies too. She now regrets her popularity and her latest videos show a very sober and restrained Kumari Aunty.

The recent hype created around Rameshwaram café in Hyderabad came up a cropper. Many felt that the taste was not the same as in Rameshwaram, Bangalore and that the prices were high. But the food vloggers made their money, and no one was wise that most of the reels were paid for. The social media posts  were as synthetic as plastic roses.

The other social media sensation is the Vada Pav girl from Delhi. Vada Pav, dubbed the Mac Pav of India is the humble, cheap, and fast-moving street food snack from Maharashtra. There the Vada Pav sells for 10 - 15 rupees.

Delhi’s Vada Pav girl realized that there was a gap in Delhi Street food. Delhi street food fare is mostly North Indian, with roti served with many side dishes. Otherwise, it is the traditional South Indian snack food, Idly, Dosa and Vada.

The Vada Pav girl cashed in. Her charming persona her story (came from a middle-class family) her struggles captivated the social media journalists.

So far so good. All the buzz and fame attracted more vultures and more customers who wanted to bask in reflected glory. Her videos where she is beseeching  the customers to come in two lines made it to the top of social media charts. Yesterday she got into a huge fight with a YouTuber which gave her a lot of negative publicity.

Just like any new celebrity she is not able to handle the fame and gets into frequent fights both with her customers and with the social media journalists. And the Vada Pav at her place cost a whopping Rs 50. But Indians being Indians they shove, push, and create bedlam at her street food joint.

They all want quick service, and the Vada Pav girl is not able to control the crowd. The beauty of street food is that the overheads are low, places are cramped and the owner himself/herself  handles everything themselves.

The minute it becomes a regular hotel the charm is gone. Ram ki Bandi has posh outlets in many places including one in KPHB. The KPHB “Ram Ki Bandi” has the spic and span look of any upmarket hotel but hardly has any crowd.

The charm of Ram ki Bandi is the bandi itself. Mithun’s (Mithun Chakravarthy is often called “Poor man’s Amitabh Bachchan) fan base is different from Amitabh Bachchan, If Mithun pretends to be Amitabh, he will lose his loyal clientele and will not attract  Amitabh’s fans. 

This social media circus must stop. Let us not like, share, and subscribe to these types of YouTube channels. Once they don’t get what they want this type of unsavoury social media reporting will cease.