From ‘Pawri’ time to T20 victories: Memes that ruled the year

The internet can be a depressing place. With the ongoing pandemic and the climate crisis having arrived right at our doorstep, each Twitter refresh brings with it news of something awful. However, nestled between the bad news are moments of respite in the form of hilarious memes. Whether it’s laughing at our own misfortunes, revelling in our successes, or trying to make sense of all the confusing – and at times bewildering – content floating around the virtual world, memes hold the power to make us smile in the darkest of times.

With 2021 coming to a close, here are our top five picks for memes that had us rolling on the floor laughing throughout the year.

Pakistan’s T20 win against India

Pakistan’s stellar performance in this year’s T20 Men’s World Cup brought immense amounts of joy into our lives, despite the fact that the team did not qualify for the finals. The icing of the cake was Pakistan’s historic 10-wicket victory against India in a first-ever World Cup triumph.

Throughout the three-and-a-half-hour match, and for a long time afterwards, Pakistanis and Indians brought their A-game to Twitter. As soon as Babar played the winning shot, ecstatic fans took to the bird app and expressed their emotions with memes and rib-tickling tweets.

Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar’s contribution to the memes deserves a special mention. During India’s batting run, Akshay was seen celebrating in the stands, with the actor’s feelings changing significantly towards the end of the match when Pakistan’s victory seemed apparent.

In celebration of the eventual win, Pakistani cricket fans took to Twitter to poke fun at the actor, and some of the results were just too hilarious to ignore.

‘Pawri’ girl take over

The now-famous Sinf e Aahan actor Dananeer Mobeen broke onto the scene with her hilarious viral video, in which she can be heard saying, "Yeh hamari car hei aur yeh hum hein, aur yeh hamari party horahi hei [This is our car, this is us, and this is our party]."

The video was a smash hit, with the hype spreading to the other side of the border as well. Her quirky representation of ‘burgers’ upon visiting the Northern areas of Pakistan as well as her pronunciation of the word ‘party’ took social media by storm.

The video was also turned into a catchy song, courtesy of Indian meme-maker Yashraj Mukhate. The Kokila Ben famed content creator shared his own take on the viral clip and turned it into an upbeat, hilarious track.

In one video, two Indian soldiers deployed in snowy mountains gave it their own spin with, “This is us, this is our gun, and we are patrolling here”, while popular Bollywood actors Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone each made versions that also went viral.

The curse of ‘Midsummer Chaos’

Directed by Ahmed Sarym and released via YouTube, this series, seemingly documenting the fictional lives of elite Pakistan teenagers took the internet by storm.

Midsummer Chaos became the talk of the town (not just Islamabad), for what can best be described as organised cringe and not comedy. Mind you, it did not feature short sketches or homemade videos of white women throwing pizza in a blender, it was in fact, a complete show with characters going through serious crisis. It came out of nowhere and got everyone talking, just like Taher Shah’s songs, whose catalogue wouldn’t have been this funny either if he didn't take it so seriously.

The show offered enough fodder to provoke celebrity WhatsApp groups, established filmmakers and many of us viewers to get a kick out of it. But the brains behind the series had clarified to The Express Tribune that Midsummer Chaos was intended to be an exaggerated depiction.

Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram blackout

Following the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp outage in early October, Mark Zuckerberg’s personal wealth fell by more than $6 billion in a few hours, knocking him down a notch on the list of the world’s richest people, but Twitter had a field day.

Memes were shared showing Zuckerberg trying to “fix” WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram with his face photoshopped over an electrician’s body. Presumably taking a big fat dig at Zuckerberg, Twitter said, “hello literally everyone,” from its official handle, instigating a barrage of memes. Taking none of it personally, Instagram replied, "Hi and happy Monday," with WhatsApp waving back. 

Seizing this opportunity, Reddit immediately asked, “How are you doing, Instagram social media manager?” while brazenly promoting itself in another tweet. “If you have some, ahem, free time, might we suggest the front page of Reddit?"

Harry, Meghan’s desi family debacle  

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s bombshell tell-all with Oprah Winfrey became the talk of the town after it aired in March.

The interview was another nail in the coffin for the British royals, as the couple made several shocking claims. There was a harrowing discussion about the royals’ obsession with the colour of their son, Archie’s skin. Meghan also confessed that the pressures on her as the Duchess of Sussex led her to contemplate suicide.

But despite the interview’s dark and domineering revelations, netizens did not refrain from turning into a meme machine by comparing Meghan’s situation to that of daughters-in-law in desi households. Many replaced Oprah’s face with that of Samina Peerzada’s and some even replaced Meghan’s actual problems with that of desi household problems, turning the whole situation into a hilarious projection of who we are.

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