KOCHI: True to their nature, internet memes kept pouring in through the many dedicated sites even as mainstream media houses were busy discussing ISIS connection of the 12 Malayalis who have gone missing. When the media ran across the State to learn what caused their disappearance, internet trolls used their imagination to create the Malayali presence in the dangerous dungeons of the ISIS, invoking the adage that ‘when Malayalis move abroad, they carrying a few ‘mallu’ traits with them.’
One troll says that the USA could now stop worrying about the ISIS as Malayalis are adept at creating fissures between people who they did not even know existed. It proclaimed that the ISIS would soon cease to exist as it would be divided into ISIS(K), ISIS(J) and ISIS(M). Another showed a newspaper headline saying that a newly-recruited Malayali swindled a huge amount from the ISIS chief, after promising to blow up a building. One troll had the ‘legendary’ CIDs Dasan and Vijayan celebrating in the US (a grab from the film ‘Akkare Akkare Akkare’) with the caption ‘Malayali ISIS terrorists in Libya’. And, can Malayalis forget their favourite food, festivals and TV soaps? No. one meme has the ISIS chief elated with the tiny ‘rocket launcher’ brought by a Malayali, which later turns out to be a ‘puttu kutti’.
Another one has the ISIS chief, ignorant of Onam, standing clueless on seeing a ‘pookkalam’ in front of a bunker. One Mallu wins over the heart of the chief narrating the heartrending stories of ‘Chandanamazha’ and ‘Parasparam’, two of the most successful TV soaps. Many of the ‘trolls’ invited ire from various quarters for allegedly trivialising the issue that must be viewed with utmost seriousness.