TORONTO: Desi Twitter’s ‘Can Relate’ Moment With Pulitzer Winner’s Text From Dad

TORONTO: The internet is filled with memes
on just how tough it is to impress Indian parents and there is no denying the
tinge of truth in it. Though the notion that Indian parents are extremely
academic and result oriented often borders on the stereotypical, there are
several funny posts on social media to add credence to this belief. And now,
Indian-origin journalist Megha Rajagopalan from BuzzFeed News, who
recently received the Pulitzer Prize, shared with the world just how sparing
and understated Indian fathers could be with their praise. 

In a
Twitter post that has gone viral since it was shared on Saturday, Ms
Rajagopalan’s father can be seen congratulating his daughter with a simple,
“Well done.”

In the
screengrab shared by the journalist, her father wrote, “Congratulations
Megha. Mom just forwarded me. Pulitzer Prize. Well done.” To this Ms
Rajagopalan replied, “Thanks!!” Sharing the photo, she wrote,
“Understated Indian dad reaction.”

The
father’s reaction resonated with several users on Twitter, with Indian
Twitteratti saying that he had pulled off the perfect “Indian dad”
response to the situation. Author and producer, Meena Harris said that Ms
Rajagopalan’s father could very well be waiting for her to bag the Nobel Prize
next.

Exclamation
points are reserved for the Nobel Prize only, another user said.

Mimicking
a common line of discussion that Indian parents adopt while asking their child
to aim higher, one user said, “Just one Pulitzer? Why not two? Only one of
your articles during all the year was okay?”

Another
Twitter user also used the opportunity to hint at the average Indian parents’
preference for doctor and engineer jobs.

Several
others said that the proud father would be busy sharing the news with family
and friends.

Take
a  look at some of the other reactions

“why wasn’t it a pulitzer plus?”

— Scott Lucas (@scottlucas) June 11, 2021

Ms
Rajagopalan received the honour along with two other
contributors, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek, for investigative reports on
a vast infrastructure of prisons and mass internment camps secretly built by
China for detaining hundreds of thousands of Muslims in its restive Xinjiang
region.