Google ad connects India-Pak with heartwarming reunion story

The advertisement features a reunion between two childhood friends from India and Pakistan.


Talha Ahmed November 13, 2013
A screenshot from the ad 'Google Search: Reunion'.

Google India on Wednesday released a commercial titled 'Google Commercial: Reunion' relating a tear-jerking story of how the tech giant's search functions helped two childhood friends, separated due to the Partition of Pak-India border, are reunited.

"Partitions divide countries, friendships find a way," says the caption below the video, which is one in a series of five videos.

The three-and-a-half minute commercial starts with Suman, a young girl in India, listening to her grandfather narrate his memories of Yousuf, his childhood friend he had shared memorable times with, in Lahore.

With watery eyes, he explains how the Partition split the two pals apart, with Yousuf staying in Pakistan as his friend crossed into India.

Distraught over the tale narrated by her grandfather, Suman takes a chance and runs a random search on Google.

Suman 'googles' the trivia from her grandfather's story to connect the dots and with just a few keystrokes, pinpoint the current whereabouts of Yousuf in Lahore.

'An old gate' and 'jhajariya' are all it takes Google to take Suman to Yousuf and his grandson Ali, an admittedly miraculous feat by the standards of only one generation ago.

The advertisement is currently going viral and owes its spiraling views to the overwhelming emotional appeal, grossing upwards of 100,000 views and innumerable facebook posts and tweets.

But it is also helping Google reemphasise the importance it assigns to the company's contribution toward connecting humanity and making actual, tangible effects on lives.

That was one of core elements emphasised in this summer's Hollywood film "The Internship", which was in fact derided by many critics as a "two-hour long Google commercial".

Another aspect tying the movie with the commercial is the tech giant's attempt to shed the association with a certain age group. While 'The Internship' portrayed that even two middle-aged outmoded salesmen could create a space for themselves at the company, 'Reunion' portrays Google's service to an age-group two generations older than Suman and Ali.

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COMMENTS (134)

Maliha Rao | 10 years ago | Reply

OMG This his heart wrenching..I am tears!! I miss my Grandfather now :( I sent my Grand ma some Jhajairya after watching this :') I so glad its available on Tohfay.com incase anyones want s to try it: http://www.tohfay.com/jhajariya-sweet-p-10274.html#.Up3YPBCVOSp Its absolutely delicious I tried it from Fazal sweets in my last visit <3

amrita | 10 years ago | Reply

Its touchy and beautiful. made me cry.....

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