Baba ka Dhaba: Influencer Scam or yet another Social Media Trial?

Being Famous
By Shreya Agarwal

“Humanity still exists” — this phrase came alive when a YouTuber Gaurav Wasan uploaded a video on his YouTube channel about an old couple in Delhi struggling to earn their living during the pandemic time, earlier in October.

The couple was unable to sell their food preparations. Their condition worsened as during the lockdown, people have stopped coming to their ‘Baba ka Dhaba’ and they suffered an economic crunch due to lesser sales.

The video became viral in no time. People from different fields shared the video, from common man to Actor R. Madhavan to Chef Ranveer Brar. Delhi people turned out in huge numbers to help them and the mainstream media started covering the story of the old couple of Delhi.

But a few days later, we heard another news in the series where the Baba filed a complaint against the YouTuber, alleging fraud in the donations. He accused him of keeping all the money and giving him only a small portion of the donations made by people.

A guy named Madhur Singh accused YouTuber Gaurav of misappropriating funds and of fraud with the poor old couple.

As soon as the news broke out, people again turned to social media to know the truth, whether the fraud had indeed happened? Twitterati raised their concern over the viral video. It wondered if this was a new tactic to catch eyeballs and get famous piggybacking on others?

Twitter had a mixed reaction where some people questioned Gaurav and asked him for clarification. Another set of people came out in support of Gaurav and accused Baba of greediness. Let us have a look at how Twitterati reacted to the whole episode:

Even actor R. Madhavan reacted to this news:

Electronic media turned to Gaurav to seek further clarity on the allegations:

And the reactions followed on Twitter:

People raised concerns over Madhavan’s remarks, after which he gave a clarification on his tweets:

With all the news and follow-up clarifications that we are having, one thing is crystal clear — that people nowadays attain instant fame because of social media. We have seen this earlier in the case of Ranu Mandal, who was first spotted by a boy at a railway station and soon started her journey from rags to riches. She even got a singing opportunity with one of the leading music composers of the Hindi film industry.

Similarly, when Gaurav made the video, it appeared that a ray of hope exists, and people are still helping others in this cruel world. But on the other side, we hear the stories of fraud and cheating in the name of help.

Eventually, we should wait till the police gives us an answer about the case as to what has happened factually. But one thing is for sure. After watching these kind of videos, one should also be vigilant about people who offer help.

The process should be transparent, and the government should take cognisance of such incidents. So was it a scam as it seems to be? Or when the investigation is over, will people regret of it being just another social media trial? Only time will tell.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the article are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of any other individual, organisation or this website.
Shreya Agarwal

A public relations and communications professional, Shreya is a creative writer. She is a media enthusiast and has gained insights into the world of Photography and Marketing.

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