Asif Raza from Gujranwala, Pakistan decided to give it back to his friend Mudasir after having a fight with him, and he did this by putting an announcement on Facebook that he is not friends with him anymore. He edited a photograph of the two and even wrote how he is best friend with Salman instead.
The announcement consisted a picture of Asif and Mudasir shaking hands with other pictures of Mudasir being crossed off. Alongisde this, the text read, "Friendship ended with Mudasir. Now Salman is my best friend" which seems like it was made using a word art feature of sorts went viral on social media.
This image that went on to become a meme and has now been sold as an NFT (non-fungible token) for approximately Rs 38 lakh ($51,350), or 20 ethereum.
NFTs have picked up as a great way for artists to sell their work, and memes are no different. Alter, a London and Lahore-based start-up conducted the sale of this viral meme via a digital art marketplace called Foundation. The meme was auctioned on the day of International Friendship Day.
In the announcement that Raza made to anger Mudasir, he said, "I declare that I left my past best friend Mudasir Ismail." He also added that Mudasir had become "proudy".
However, things are good with the two best friends now, and they even posted a picture of themselves with Salman to show that they had reconciled.
Mudasir and Asif reconcile.
(Photo Courtesy: Facebook)
A picture of Asif, Salman, and Mudasir.
(Photo Courtesy: Facebook)
"I can’t even remember what we fought about. At that time we were so focused on each other. If either of us met other friends we would get hurt. We used to share all of our deepest secrets with each other," said Ismail in a statement to VICE World News.
When the picture first went viral, Asif was surprised by all the attention he was getting. "I would never have known that [the post] would go so viral and that it would spread all over the world. So many news agencies interviewed us. We’ve even had a cartoon made about us,” said Raza. “The people of Poland love it so much. I received Polish visa offers from two or three people. They even wrote my name on the walls there.”
(With inputs from VICE World News).
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)