Two friends in Pakistan had a fight over a trivial issue and one among the two decided to put out his disappointment on social media. He created a meme to announce that he was "breaking up" with him and he never imagined that his post created out of frustration would garner global attention someday and earn him money.
This is the tale of two good friends Muhammad Asif Raza Rana and Mudasir Ismail. In 2015, the former created a meme and shared it on his Facebook with the message 'Friendship ended with Mudasir. Now Salman is my best friend.' In the photo, the duo was seen shaking hands and Mudasir's snap crossed off.
The meme had gone viral on the internet and this picture was widely used by netizens for every given topic in Pakistan. From Donald Trump's election campaign to indicate the weather, this creation was seen using by Pakistanis to describe a situation in a humorous way.
The Price
Recently, on the occasion of Friendship Day, the post was auctioned off as NFT by London-Lahore based start-up Alter. It was reportedly sold for $51,530 or 20 ethereum on the digital art marketplace Foundation, the world's largest platform for NFT listings.
Friends United
The two friends have now sorted out their differences and shared a new picture indicating that they have left their past behind them. "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," Ismail is quoted as saying by VICE World News.
He adds that he never imagined that his meme would get such a huge popularity. He concludes, "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."
