Twitter gives Chetan Bhagat good reasons to get off it
If there is one thing he is good at, it is getting trolled.
His books may be mediocre and his opinions misinformed, but if there is one thing Chetan Bhagat is good at, it is getting trolled. It is therefore not any kind of a surprise that the author of "bestsellers" like Revolution 2020, 3 Mistakes of My Life and One Indian Girl has been the successful target of a mass Twitter troll.
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| Chetan Bhagat recently pronounced himself the "thinking Indian woman's lust object". |
Trolling on Twitter can get nasty from time to time, but in this case it has been nothing short of hilarious. Bhagat, post the launch of his latest book, One Indian Girl, has been tweeting about it, and promoting it, day and night. In one such tweet, the author tried to get people to tweet photos of his book, in a bid to promote it further.
#OneIndianGirl in Mykonos, Greece. Send me pics of the book in a beautiful backdrop. Will RT best ones. Let's see your phone camera skills! pic.twitter.com/nGAF9QiFd0
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 10, 2016
What Bhagat did not, but should have expected, was the degree of seriousness of the replies. As expected, people came up with the worst of Photoshopped images and a few real one that were just as bad.
.@chetan_bhagat Take a look sir, your book in the most beautiful backdrop. Please RT. pic.twitter.com/ZiXSuFs1tm
— Rofl Gandhi Page 57 (@RoflGandhi_) October 10, 2016
@RoflGandhi_ @chetan_bhagat A book in need is book indeed! pic.twitter.com/e1ojYsZIbq
— Pankaj Mishra (@pankajmishra23) October 10, 2016
It is such a proud feeling to see #OneIndianGirl getting popular in the Tribal areas of Central Africa. Keep it up @chetan_bhagat pic.twitter.com/5p8oWVnqK8
— Gautam Trivedi (@Gotham3) October 10, 2016
.@chetan_bhagat No backdrop can be more beautiful for your book than this sir. pic.twitter.com/PgGNclrYGP
— Smoking Skills (@SmokingSkills_) October 10, 2016
And this went on and on. Naturally, several news outlets and webzines maximized their efforts to make this Twitter action available to those not present on the micro-blogging website. The trolling took a "viral" turn and everyone had a hearty laugh.
Bhagat, being the inspiration to most of the protagonists in his stories, did not back down. Sticking to the "no press is bad press" philosophy, Bhagat tried to save face by telling everyone how this little gimmick was his clever plan to get some easy press coverage. In fact, he went on to say "I have learnt to use the hate and my trolls to aid my marketing. It really helps. Keep up the good work". He ended his perfectly smug monologue with an old proverb about making the best of everything.
Throw bricks on me, I will build a house. Spit on me, will use it to shine more. That's what makes me me. God bless!
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 11, 2016
Unfortunately for him, this again, was met with yet another round of some really bad comebacks that were downright hilarious.
.@chetan_bhagat By that logic, this should be your current shining DP pic.twitter.com/okhOK37lyL
— The-Lying-Lama (@KyaUkhaadLega) October 11, 2016
@chetan_bhagat Are you still the "object of lust for every thinking woman with an IQ >80", after this tweet?
— Akil Bakhshi (@akil_bakhshi) October 11, 2016
.@chetan_bhagat Throwing your book on you, please make it a tree again. ??
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) October 11, 2016
@chetan_bhagat #OneSadIndianBoyhttps://t.co/FcqDBiA4ZZ
— Anil Acharya (@aa3132) October 11, 2016
And an endorsement from Kamaal R Khan is probably the last thing anyone needs, right?
Hahaha Bhai Jaan You are using my dialogue Me Me Me! Good! @chetan_bhagat https://t.co/eJd8DU4TAb
— KRK (@kamaalrkhan) October 11, 2016
Of course, it is possible that the IIM-A prodigy Bhagat concocted this as well, to get a little more publicity. And one really won't be surprise if he tweets to say the same thing again tomorrow. If that does happens, one can always quote the not-so-great Piers Morgan and say "Noted, Chatan".