‘Rishta aunties’ and matrimonial sites are not a new phenomenon in India, however, a recent service only for the intellectual elite from India’s premier institutes like IIT-IIM has left many irked online. But amid all such criticism, what really caught everyone’s attention online was the fact the founder of the website is not from either of those institutions.
‘IIT IIM Shaadi’, a platform exclusively for alumni of IITs, IIMs and other prestigious institutes of the country created a huge buzz online after Bollywood director-producer Karan Johar became its brand ambassador. While the star quotient did its job to gain traction, many remained confused why Johar was chosen in the first place. And as inquisitive internet users continued digging for more information, they came across founder Taksh Gupta’s LinkedIn profile.
According to his profile, Gupta isn’t an alumnus of either IIT or IIM but completed his education in business studies at SP Jain School of Global Management. Netizens, who had already been criticising Johar and Gupta alleging them of elitism, found it quite ironic.
Soon, with memes and jokes, people took digs at the founder, concluding that irony is lost on them. While some quipped they aspire to be like Gupta to have his level of confidence, others used Shark Tank India judge Ashneer Grover’s signature line, “Yeh sab doglapan hai” to react to the situation.
Someone from IIT/IIM should build a SPJainShaadi to balance things out 😂
— Kush (@AvlaniKushal) April 1, 2022
I laughed so hard 😂. Irony died 100 deaths
— Atul Pol (@itsatulpol) March 31, 2022
Thukara ke mera pyar ft Taksh Gupta 😂
— Mridul 🚀 (@MridulRajB1) March 31, 2022
Get Byjus today so that you can get IITIIMShaadi tomorrow
— peeleraja (@peeleraja) March 31, 2022
Non IITian solving IITians problem! That really cracks me up! lol!
— Karthikeya Meesala (@Karthikeyaa_) March 31, 2022
It’s like that bill gates quote “i didn’t graduate but graduated people are working for me” n all. Nai
— dhuan (धुआं) lipa 🇮🇳 (@satyanas) March 31, 2022
The guy be like pic.twitter.com/8Y4dKBh8hQ
— Vikass (@mrv_sam) March 31, 2022
Ashneer Grover was not wrong pic.twitter.com/MFpqGJKotf
— X Æ A-12 Cov-19 (@k0ol1) March 31, 2022
Bechara Taksh won’t be able to find a bride on his own site. 🥲 https://t.co/y5Bau6mro8
— Sneha (@trailsofink) March 31, 2022
Confidence level 🔥 https://t.co/0urBYrQpnV
— Mr. A (@rajputankitnegi) March 31, 2022
I want to grow up to be this guy. https://t.co/cUBh8DVvmy
— Aditi Mittal (@awryaditi) March 31, 2022
He is taking revenge for not getting n IIT seat 😁 https://t.co/ICnwN6I46b
— JJ (@j9900j) March 31, 2022
Johar, in a promotional video for the platform earlier said that the purpose of it is to match people who are “mentally” compatible. “@iitiimshaadi__ puts it well – Alma Mater Matters,” he wrote in his caption, inviting people to look for prospects, compatible on the basis of education degree only.
Many argued that in India, there are already plenty of hurdles that hinder one from tying the knot for the right reasons, and there was no need to add another layer of bias to the mix.
Is this for real? Are we looking for more ways to divide ourselves?
Whats wrong with guy?
#iitiimshaadi #matrimonialad #shameonkaranjohar pic.twitter.com/dAFvkIO8ZI
— Anubha Varshney🇮🇳 (@AnubhaVarshney) April 1, 2022
Yes! Since from childhood IIT, now even for the marriage 😶
— Sai Prabhu (@saiprabhu678) March 31, 2022
The presence of something called @IITIIMShaadi is perhaps the logical manifestation of a society that views education as an investment, marriage as a transaction and maintaining class and caste hegemony as the ultimate purpose of life. pic.twitter.com/c4iHTjuBzm
— Musab Qazi (@musab1) March 30, 2022
Can’t say what is more disturbing. To have an exclusive @IITIIMShaadi portal or to see the brand ambassador who is neither from those institutions nor married. Btw he calls himself #cupid that rhymes with
— Ashwini Deshpande (@ashwinielephant) March 30, 2022
We Indians are so obsessed with IIT IIM that we even brought them into matrimonial dynamics!
The day we choose to love as meant to be than what’s desired – maybe we’d understand the meaning of happiness.
Shame that we blame the west for not valuing relationships!#iitiimshaadi— Prati (@ouiouicoffee) March 31, 2022
