A couple of days after Halloween, our celebrity this week Mandeep Nahal was shocked to see that her original idea for a costume had gone viral. Mandeep was nice enough to talk to us about her experience after her photos had made it to the front page of the popular website Reddit.
What do you study here at UBC?I study the mixture of different chemical components in order to make more environmentally friendly, safe and effective cleaning products. Then we no longer need more lemon pledge. In all seriousness though, I study biology.
Do you ever go on the website Reddit?Occasionally
What gave you the idea for your costume ?I watch Family Guy and was inspired by the hilarity of the character. I also had the same skin colour so that worked for me.
Did you know that your photo was going to be posted on Reddit ?I was not aware that my picture was going to be posted on Reddit. After the picture went viral my cousin contacted me and asked if I knew who posted it and I had no idea. After a little digging on the user’s profile he found a first name and the university the user went to. It turns out that the person who posted it was someone I haven’t talked to in over 6 years. He downloaded not only my picture, but my cousin’s photo and two of my friend’s photos from Facebook without my consent. The picture became viral before I even knew what had happened which is a really scary thought. My friends and I are fortunate that there was such a positive response but it could have easily gone the other way. This really taught me to be careful with what I post online because I never thought I would be the target of something like this. Turns out my dad was right about the internet, as always.
Have people recognized you on campus from the post?Yes! I am shocked by the number people that have recognized me not only on campus but off campus as well! Even two weeks after Halloween have passed I still have people approaching me.