Day after, fish-selling college girl hounded by trolls

This could be a grim post-script to the fickleness of Internet fame. On Wednesday, social media celebrated the story of Hanan Hamid, a 19-year-old college student who sells fish in a Kochi market to support her family.

A day later, she was left sobbing on live videos, rattled by abuses and threats, as she requested people to stop creating trolls and memes ridiculing her. What happened in between? Unverified “news” that Hanan’s story was not real, that it was a bid to hit headlines.

Hanan, a B.Sc Chemistry student at a college in Thodupuzha, says she has been taking up part-time jobs since she was in class seven. With a partial hearing problem, with her father fighting alcohol addiction, and later separating from her ailing mother, life has been rough but Hanan has tried to make ends meet by selling beaded bracelets and necklaces, giving tuition classes and working with event management companies. “My day starts at 3 am. An hour later, I’m tying a fish box to the back of my bicycle. By 5 am, I’m at the Champakkara market looking for fish to sell in Thammanam,” Hanan told reporters at the market on Wednesday.

With the help of an auto-rickshaw driver, she reaches Thammanam, keeps the fish at a house and leaves for her college, 60 km away. She returns after her classes and sells the fish in an evening market. Filmmaker Arun Gopi, taking note of her story, first reported in a Malayalam daily, made her an offer in his upcoming Pranav Mohanlal film Irupathiyonnaam Noottaandu. The young girl’s spirited ways were an instant hit on social media before the doubters emerged, many calling her story of struggles an act.

Soon, she was subjected to online abuse for selling a fake story, with many pointing to her “fashionable” appearance and photographs with celebrities and movie stars, posted on her Facebook page. It is learnt that late actor Kalabhavan Mani had helped her find opportunities in stage shows. Videos from the market were also uploaded, with people saying Hanan had started selling fish only three days ago.

On Thursday, authorities at Hanan’s college and her doctor confirmed that she was facing financial constraints and was struggling to run her family. A fresh round of online support has started, with the now-familiar afterthought “apologies”. But the less flippant have highlighted why the poor and the strugglers also have to appear poor and struggling to be taken seriously. Hanan, who aspires to be a doctor, said she was trying to move on. “I didn’t seek any of this media attention. I’m just trying to make a living, please don’t harass me,” she said, tearful but resolute, in a Facebook live video.