Pakistani woman faces backlash for post praising groom who took Alto instead of luxury car to wedding

A Pakistani groom arrives in an Alto (Image credit: 100kaamhain/Instagram)

A Pakistani woman who shared a post praising a groom for arriving at his own wedding in an Alto rather than a luxury car is facing backlash on two counts – one, the cost of an Alto in Pakistan can hardly qualify as cheap, and second, her post itself is plagiarised.

Ayesha Ali shared a picture of the Suzuki Alto on X and wrote: “This car passed me by yesternight. And I couldn’t help but ask the family to stop and let me just click the car’s photograph

“The car is a Suzuki Alto, and has been mildly decorated for a wedding. You see, most of my friends and family don’t imagine themselves Driving an Alto when the subject matter is their wedding (it’s a Prado, Altis or a Civic)

“Yet here I am, sharing this photograph with all you guys. The groom clearly doesn’t care what people think about him, he knows that an Alto is what he can bring to the table, and he’s firm in his belief that it’s the best he can offer.

“You see, he could’ve just taken out a loan to get himself a civic but he opted not to. Our lust to impress people Jinsy hum shayad apni shadio par he milty hain often makes us debt trapped. (Our lust to impress people we meet at weddings often leaves us debt-trapped,” she wrote.

Ali ended her post by praising frugality, simplicity and humbleness as qualities that one should be proud of. She added a one-word disclaimer saying the post is “copied.”

This car passed me by yesternight. And I couldn’t help but ask the family to stop and let me just click the car’s photograph.
The car is a Suzuki Alto, and has been mildly decorated for a wedding. You see, most of my friends and family don’t imagine themselves Driving an Alto… pic.twitter.com/zrdnlXxUwf

— Ayesha Ali (@AyeshaKhan__ak) January 16, 2024

Others also pointed out that the post is copied.

“Poor??? It’s a 30 lacs car,” wrote one X user. The cost of an Alto in Pakistan ranges between 22 lakh PKR to 30 lakh PKR.

idk girl u made it weird by trying to glorify poverty it's a nice decorated Alto it's really not that deep. it's giving 'PoOr PpL r sO SiMpLe sO eXoTiC uS RiCh PpL cAn LeArN sM fRoM iT'
i understand the purity of intention really but the elitism is so so internalised

— ansu (@ansahqasimzaka) January 18, 2024

Another said her post had elitism implicit.

“I’m begging rich people to shut up,” an X user wrote. “Local woman discovers middle-class,” another quipped in an Onion-like headline.

Meanwhile, Ali was also accused of plagiarising the entire post and the photograph from an Instagram page called “100kaamhain”. People especially took issue with the fact that she did not credit the original account in her post.

“I already mentioned there that it was copied. All credit goes to him. The intentions behind the post are POSITIVE. But people portray it as negativity,” she wrote in her defense.