
This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan - selmnoo
http://pri.org/stories/2013-11-16/google-ad-has-moved-people-tears-across-indian-and-pakistan?re
======
selmnoo
This is the ad:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGDN9-oFJE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGDN9-oFJE)
\- be sure to have subtitles on (unless you understand Hindi).

One interesting observation about the ad: the search results that the girl
deems to be good and informative are almost all Wikipedia hits. It's actually
pretty similar to my situation: Google is basically a better Wikipedia
searching tool than what Wikipedia provides.

~~~
JPKab
Hindi or Urdu? Haha... I always find the "language vs dialect" thing very
interesting. The distinction when it comes to Hindi and Urdu is totally
political.

Two of my old buddies, one an Indian, the other a Pakistani, could completely
understand each other, yet both insisted that they spoke different languages
(Punjabi/Hindi and Urdu respectively)

Another friend of mind, who left Pakistan as a 10 year old, always just shook
his head with a smile and said "Dude, that's like a guy from Alabama saying
someone from England speaks a different language."

~~~
dsrguru
A Yiddish scholar once said that "a language is a dialect with an army and a
navy."

It's really true. One might think that mutual intelligibility (ability for
speakers of one to make themselves fully understood by speakers of the other)
would be the standard for differentiating languages from dialects, but the
distinction really ends up just being political. The spoken forms of Hindi and
Urdu are entirely mutually intelligible but have two separate names.

Many varieties of Arabic and Chinese are mutually unintelligible but are
called "dialects" of one Arabic or Chinese language, presumably to promote a
unified Arab or Chinese identity. Speakers of Moroccan Arabic and Levantine
Arabic or of Mandarin and Cantonese can't understand each other any better
than speakers of Spanish and Italian can, but we don't call Spanish and
Italian dialects of Modern Latin!

It gets even weirder when you have a dialect continuum, like with Polish-
Russian-Ukrainian. Russian is somewhat mutually intelligible with both Polish
and Ukrainian, but Polish and Ukrainian are not themselves mutually
intelligible! So even if politics didn't play a role in the distinction
between language and dialect, it would be hard if not impossible to come up
with a universal distinction.

~~~
nekopa
A side note: as a teenager I spent one summer working in a clothing store in
London, with a bunch of Spaniards and Italians. They spoke to each other using
their respective tongue, and said they could understand each other. Just
basics of course.

Maybe someone from Spain or Italy could chime in here?

~~~
dsrguru
As with the Arabic and Chinese language families, different varieties of
Romance languages are similar enough in syntax and vocabulary that speakers
can kind of make themselves understood to each other if they speak slowly and
choose their words carefully. Same with lots of closely related languages,
e.g. German and Dutch. But they're not nearly mutually intelligible to the
degree that American English and most varieties of British English are or that
Hindi and Urdu are.

Regarding the Spanish/Italian example, the father of a friend of mine was
fluent in Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Using an Italian grammar guide and
his knowledge of Romance vocabulary from the other three languages, he learned
Italian in a single flight from the US to Italy to the point where he was able
to conduct business in Italy immediately upon landing.

~~~
mcv
I'm Dutch, and people from the east of Netherland don't understand why I don't
understand German, claiming the languages are so similar. But I have real
trouble understanding German. Maybe when it's someone from the north-west of
Germany who speaks very slowly and clearly. People from the east of Netherland
have much less trouble, somehow.

(I'm utterly unable to understand people from the Dutch province of Zeeland
when they're speaking to their parents. That's complete gibberish to me,
though it doesn't have a special status as a local language, as far as I know.
(unlike Nethersaxon, for example))

~~~
wakeless
I'm from Australia and I can't understand from the Australian province New
Zealand.

~~~
vorg
"Australia's gotta become one country first."

The reply from former NZ Prime Minister Rob Muldoon when asked if NZ would
ever become part of Australia.

------
harichinnan
As a fellow Indian, I just want to point out that this video and any other
efforts to develop people-to-people relationships between India and Pakistan
have zero effect on the ongoing conflicts between the nations. Indians love
Pakistani singers, cricketers, food, their language(Weird, I'm not a native
Hindi speaker. But people tell me that Pakistani's speak better Hindi than
most Indians). I've heard from Pak friends that they too love Bollywood and
many things India. Even Pak government doesn't wish any ill on India. However
the Pak army and ISI have vested interests in keeping conflicts alive. They
also fund terrorist organizations in every neighboring country possible. Lack
of democracy in Pakistan(Elected governments get routinely overthrown in
coups) is a greater problem than religious extremism.

By that extension, lack of democracy in Saudi Arabia, and Egypt was the root
cause of all Islamic terrorism. Saudi's actively promote a version of Islam
that promotes religious discord in muslim populations across the world. I
think the US missed a huge opportunity in encouraging more democracy during
Arab spring and even the Iranian uprising.

~~~
pknerd
You for got add your RAW and Indian army, mate.

~~~
ajays
I grew up an (Indian) Army brat, and have enough friends in there to say this:
never did I hear a single Army officer express any desire to harm Pakistan by
itself. The prevailing view was always "I wish these people would get over
Kashmir and leave us alone". Take it for what it's worth.

The Pakistani Army controls a huge sector of the Pakistani economy, and
benefits disproportionately in the budget. The only way they can maintain so
much power is to have a low-level conflict going with India.

Tomorrow, if Pakistan and India signed a peace accord, and froze the borders
where they are, the Pakistani Army would be basically useless. They don't want
that.

------
r0h1n
Colour me cynical, but when a corporation is under fire from consumers,
regulators and activists, a soppy and heartstring-tugging ad is _exactly what
the doctors order_.

It is literally Google saying, _" Oh look, cute puppies!"_ when faced with a
global barrage of criticism about its disdain for user privacy or its own past
promises.

~~~
ecthiender
Bang on! I don't think you are being cynical, you are being true! People
across borders should stop being emotional over an _advertisement_ by a
multinational corporation. If they really have to become emotional, there is
plenty of literature on this topic in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. And if
they even want to take actions, there are many NGOs trying to ease up the visa
procedure, raising awareness among the people etc. Talking about the
technology, I think some years down the line all this will become some kind of
"ambient technology", if you know what I mean.

~~~
VMG
Do you prefer the generic "people fiddling with their devices on a sunny day,
female voice playing buzzword bingo in the background"? Props for Google for
being ballsy.

I also love how people throw in the "multinational" qualifier as if this makes
a company that much more evil.

~~~
r0h1n
I don't see how in any way Google is being "ballsy" here. It is a safe, soppy
and relationships-oriented ad - in what world can that ever be "ballsy"?

Furthermore, I don't see the parent use the word "evil" in his comment.

That said, when a multinational that ferrets around billions of dollars in
revenue around the world through obscure countries to avoid paying significant
taxes in any of the countries it operates it [0], suddenly attempts to portray
itself as warm, fuzzy and a big proponent of India-Pakistan friendship,
forgive me for taking them at a lot less than face value.

[0] [http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/10/to-reduce-its-tax-
bu...](http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/10/to-reduce-its-tax-burden-
google-expands-use-of-the-double-irish/)

~~~
chris_wot
Yeah, except for the fact that they are dealing with relationships torn apart
by partition.

~~~
r0h1n
They are not "dealing" with those relationships, but merely milking them.

------
kunai
For those that don't understand the ad, the partition was, and to be honest,
still is a _very_ sensitive issue in India. My grandmother experienced it
first-hand: people lost their homes, were separated from their families, and
many people died along the migration from Pakistan to Punjab. There was no way
for people to get back in touch... until now, which is why this Google ad is
particularly poignant. As much as everyone here has loved to hate on Google
for the past couple of weeks, the ad shows everyone just how valuable their
products can be. It's certainly worth something... and it's a lot more
meaningful than whatever Apple is doing with their marketing.

------
devnetfx
This is a beautiful ad and will make you emotional. As a person of Indian
background I was able to relate to it easily but I wonder what others think of
it? Are you able to feel the strong emotions based on reading subtitles or
does language hamper the feelings and it loses its impact.

Kudos to the team involved in this and thanks for posting this.

~~~
piyush_soni
At least for me, the background song (from renowned singer and lyricist
'Piyush Mishra') adds a LOT in making me emotional - which they didn't
translate. So I decided to add a rough translation for the same in the
comments, but thanks to new Google+ integration - only junk is at the top on
Youtube now.

Here's it again (translation of only the BG song), timed for those who are
interested:

0:59 : Those narrow streets of childhood jump in joy again ... Tying those
little sweet thefts along with it ...

1:35: (Same two lines above, then ... ) Where I would fly like a kite, like a
bird ... That was the time .. when my heart felt like a free peacock ...

2:21: When I would sit immersed in those paper boats all day long, ... or
'entangle' myself with those windows peeking outside ... Oh, what a time that
was, when there were no restrictions in the heart ... ... That was the time ..
when it felt like a free peacock ...

~~~
primelens
Yes, the song is beautiful as well - thanks for translating it, although it's
hard to do justice to the original.

~~~
piyush_soni
Yes, agree. All the feelings in the original language can never be translated.
The poetry is lost! I still love to translate things that move me, just to
give non-Hindi speakers a rough context. :)

------
capex
Behind the division of the sub-continent lies a great debate, that of Jinnah
vs Gandhi. Was it the true aspiration of the people to get divided
geographically while getting independence from British rule? It seems the
divide happened because of some ideology driven people (Iqbal) who convinced
other leaders (Jinnah) to pursue it. Today, this is a raging battle in
Pakistan, did Pakistan ever need to be an independent country, considering how
peacefully muslims are living in India vs the ready-to-cut-throats Pakistanis?

~~~
anigbrowl
For those interested in history, _Freedom at Midnight_ is a great documentary
book on the liberation and subsequent partition of India:
[http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-at-Midnight-Dominique-
Lapierre...](http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-at-Midnight-Dominique-
Lapierre/dp/8125931864)

It's a sad fact that the departure of the British Empire from various colonial
possessions frequently resulted in a power vacuum followed by deep internal
conflicts which remain problematic today - Ireland, Israel, and India being
three obvious examples.

~~~
coldtea
> _It 's a sad fact that the departure of the British Empire from various
> colonial possessions frequently resulted in a power vacuum followed by deep
> internal conflicts which remain problematic today - Ireland, Israel, and
> India being three obvious examples._

Not a "sad fact". It's how the "british empire" planned it, melticulously and
with great effort and cunning.

It's a result of their "divide and conquer" way of ruling, in their colonial
era, and it's something they pursued afterwards in order to keep it's post
colonial grip on those places. With lackeys, puppet governments et al.

Oh, and add Cyprus/Nothern Cyprus, Ethiopia/Eritrea etc to the mix.

~~~
anigbrowl
You seem to think I'm saying it was unavoidable/inevitable, but I'm
deliberately abstaining from commentary on the causes. Being Irish myself, I
have my opinions about this but this doesn't seem like the place to air them.

------
jtchang
Amazing work!

What strikes me most is how little the language matters. You don't even have
to watch it with subtitles to see how solid the editing was. Kudos to the
entire team that worked on these videos.

~~~
notatoad
the subtitles might have been a bit more necessary if all the on-screen text
wasn't in english. That seemed like a strange choice for an ad produced by
Google India.

~~~
guyzero
The official languages of India are Hindi and English.

~~~
techtivist
Not to be pedantic but Hindi is not India's official language, it's only
English. Hindi is the national language but English is still the only language
for official communications including that of the government.

Not sure about Urdu's status in Pakistan though.

~~~
sameerds
Given all the comments about Google and Wikipedia, it's funny how you forgot
to lookup Hindi. It is in fact an official language of India. Please gets your
facts right.

------
denzil_correa
The Ad also has short sequels as well

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0lzSb0m1cs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0lzSb0m1cs)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYVoM8tgbvA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYVoM8tgbvA)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltXy9tGqlT0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltXy9tGqlT0)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI_Ke3iyfac](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI_Ke3iyfac)

~~~
kranner
Thanks for these links.

Just a bit unlikely that Ali would be able to read 'saunf' in Devanagari,
isn't it?

~~~
audreyt
The romanized form "Saumfa" is also shown in
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYVoM8tgbvA#t=0m26s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYVoM8tgbvA#t=0m26s)
.

~~~
kranner
Ah, yes. It's just that I'd expect Ali to search for "fennel in urdu", which
does show the same word in Nastaliq.

------
primelens
They built a nice series of shorter vignettes based on the original ad.[1]
These are perhaps less easily translated but they are sure to tug at the
heartstrings of a subcontinental audience. Cricket, biryani and street food -
who knew power-cuts and diabetes could evoke such nostalgia!

Well played, Google. I'll refrain from criticizing you for the next hour or
so! :-)

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYVoM8tgbvA&feature=c4-overv...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYVoM8tgbvA&feature=c4-overview-
vl&list=PL-kIBfSqQg3uMx9Z1fOpc7WPw2wDvbhFu)

------
zakhan
The original concept was produced in a video by Pak Sar Zameen Productions on
December 12, 2012

[http://www.hotpaknews.com/2013/11/did-google-stole-the-
idea-...](http://www.hotpaknews.com/2013/11/did-google-stole-the-idea-behind-
the-reunion-ad/)

~~~
garg
Naw, this goes way back. The group Junoon had Ghoom Taana. And lots more
before that. It's not a rip off

Sorry. No cc
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=86...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=86fVq7iJcG4)

------
pitchups
The most interesting aspect of this video - other than the clearly emotional
storyline - was how closely it reflects the way most of us use the web,
smartphones, and yes - Google - to manage our day-to-day lives. A search for a
landmark, a shop, to answer a quick question, to check the weather, to book a
flight. Even more remarkable how almost none of this was possible a mere 10
years ago - at least not from the palm of our hand.

------
mmhemani
Very Interesting Ad and as being a Pakistani I can actually feel it. Although,
technically finding places in Pakistan using Google Maps is not as easy as
shown in the video. There are still many problems with wrong land marks and
more.

But as a whole the content of the ad is very strong and positive that it can
touch million more hearts!

------
barbs
Great ad. Here's something similar, by Coca-Cola:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts_4vOUDImE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts_4vOUDImE).

Not as emotional, but quite good.

------
mankypro
Hell, I'm just some random white guy in the US and the ad made me tear up.
Yes, it was made for effect. Whether it was made by the newest evil
corporation or not is irrelevant. The feelings it invokes are genuine.

------
nowarninglabel
I wish Google could also improve the visa process for India which gets a brief
cameo in the video. I've been trying for weeks to obtain a visa now and have
been thwarted by the Indian government and its designated consultant's
computer systems at every turn. It's to the point I've given up and am going
to pay for a service to do it.

~~~
bruceb
Are you from Pakistan? or somewhere else?

For Americans getting a visa seems to be easy. Maybe not for some other
countries?

------
techtivist
The sad part is as an Indian myself I know that the reality is much different.
If I started calling Pakistani phones the government will probably start
investigating me for being a suspected terrorist and the old gentleman from
Pakistan will never get a visa so swiftly. It's perhaps true the other way
around.

Even if people want to come closer the state and politics always gets in the
way.

------
sjtgraham
This ad makes me tear up every time and the music is what takes it over the
edge for me. The ad is scored so beautifully, the melodies and arrangements
are incredible. Even though I can't understand what the singer is saying, I
can definitely feel the emotions in his voice.

------
san86
"This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan"

Probably not all across India. I am from the south and neither me nor my
ancestors have any personal experiences from the partition. Don't get me
wrong.. this is a great ad and I understand the emotion behind it. but this is
only as moving as a similar story on the Israel-Palestine border(ok maybe a
little more because of my high school history books and representation in
popular culture). Culturally, South India is more seperated from the North
compared with North India (Punjab, Delhi, Kashmir) and Western regions of
Pakistan.

To me this is a well produced ad which highlights the troubles of a
particularly cruel time in India's history. Nothing personal about it.

------
sanoli
I'll probably get downvotes, but here goes: I liked the ad, it moved me, it
didn't bother that it was from a big corporation (re the discussion below).
What bothers me in ads, and in movies etc, is how the men can always be some
regular looking man, sometimes even ugly, while the women always have to be
very attractive. I know I'll get called on for being too P.C. for this but
c'mon, does it always have to be a very attractive indian girl? Does Virginia
Woolf need to be played by Nicole Kidman? Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo? The
biopics about men aren't always played by Tom Cruises.

------
prakashk
Here's the story of Saroo Munshi Khan finding his home/family 26 years after
he lost them with the help of Google Earth:

[http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-long-way-home-
with-...](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-long-way-home-with-help-
from-google.html)

He wrote a book about his experience: "A Long Way Home"
([http://www.penguin.com.au/products/9780670077045/long-way-
ho...](http://www.penguin.com.au/products/9780670077045/long-way-home))

------
leoc
It's a pleasant ad, though it also reminds me of
[http://www.stevenlevy.com/index.php/05/08/the-sophie-
choice](http://www.stevenlevy.com/index.php/05/08/the-sophie-choice) :

"There were no actors seen in the Super Bowl commercial, and that was part of
its charm: even though it broke one taboo, it maintained the company’s geeky
dignity of logic and verifiability. The star was the stuff that appeared on
the computer screen. But “Dear Sophie” is more of a classic form of Madison
Avenue pitching. It’s probably something that Don Draper would come up with if
Larry and Sergey were his clients. They would tell him that their product, the
Chrome browser, has a lot going for it over its competitors, like speedier
response and a single box to type in addresses and search queries. It runs Web
applications more efficiently than other browsers, they’d tell him, and if
everyone used it, it would hasten a new paradigm of cloud apps. Draper would
say that all that stuff is well and good. But for our commercial, we’re going
to show a tear-jerking evocation of a father compiling an online scrapbook for
to his daughter as she grows up.

Straight out of the Kodak playbook–don’t brag about your specs, but play that
song about Where Are You Going My Little One, and out will come the
handkerchiefs. It’s also a stratagem used by banks and insurance companies."

Mind you, that was two years ago and feels somewhat like ancient history now.

------
MarkTee
How many of you paused the video to search for "jhajariya" and clicked on the
Wikipedia link?

~~~
piyush_soni
Not paused but searched after the video ends :). And 'verified' that the
correct definition does appear. :P

------
ankurdhama
I hope this is still hacker news rather than some emotional fools forum who
ignore realities.

~~~
marshray
Don't worry, I'm sure someone will come along to comment on the web design on
some computer screen in the background. And that will be OK.

~~~
ankurdhama
Better would be if someone discuss how we can bring up
[http://extendedsubset.com](http://extendedsubset.com) ;)

~~~
marshray
How important is it for you that we bring back the old content?

------
crystaln
A Pakistani girl showed this video to me early this year, and she was in fact
very moved.

The Pakistan - India divide is a tragedy of religion and politics, foreign and
domestic.

------
sidcool
The India Pakistan separation has left a scar on the hearts of several
generations. Power hungry and religious fanatics caused this separation.
Today's youth view the separation as a boon, but the million people killed in
the riots and other millions made homeless still haunts and affects the
geopolitics of the region.

------
elwell
Well it's moving someone to tears in the ol' USA too.

------
hrasyid
So, the oldest sweet shop in Lahore just happened to be owned by Yusuf's
grandson? How?

~~~
zhemao
From the initial conversation between Baldev and Suman, it's clear that the
sweet shop has been owned by Yusuf's family for several generations. Not sure
how Suman knew it was the oldest though, unless Baldev told her that and the
subtitles just didn't translate it.

------
WasimBhai
Oh yes, we have the best sweets, and the most awesome Curry in Lahore. That is
one thing we are extremely proud of. So people on Hackernews, next time you
plan on taking a trip, come over to Pakistan for some of the most awesome
culinary delights!

------
pknerd
Let's not forget it's an Ad only.

Emotional Marketing?

God bless Capitalism!

------
scrrr
Just wondering if reactions would be as positive if the product wasn't Google
but, I don't know, Glock pistols or Royal Dutch Shell (aired 7 days after an
oil spill). You could change the story to fit almost anything, after all.

------
sq1020
Like many of you said, it's true that Urdu and Hindi are pretty much the same
when it comes to the colloquial, spoken form of the languages. However, when
you experience more advanced usages of the languages, they begin to sound
totally different. Watch a news broadcast in Hindi and Urdu and you'll see
what I mean. The formerly seemingly identical languages diverge sharply in
academic settings and literature because Urdu borrows it's more advanced words
from Persian which in turn borrowed these words from Arabic whereas the more
advanced Hindi vocabulary is based on Sanskrit.

Not to mention the script is totally different.

------
lakwn
You don't need to be Indian or Pakistani to be moved to tears by this ad...

------
saumil07
I grew up in and around Mumbai...the ad is (unsurprisingly) quite disconnected
from the facts on the ground but holy cow. Great production values, great
storytelling, relevant tie-ins to Google products. Just great.

------
VLM
So half a day later, and no one on HN noticed the most interesting fact about
the ad was its THREE AND A HALF MINUTES LONG?

I mean I've had mythtv and commercial skipping for I guess over a decade now
and I adblock all browsers etc but do people "out there" really sit thru
almost four minute long advertisements? Back when I used to watch them,
commercials were long enough for a bathroom break, sounds like commercial
breaks are approaching "short workout followed by a shower" or perhaps "cook
and eat some hot pockets" length of time.

~~~
DanBC
There are plenty of long ads around.

Sometimes they're good, and I don't mind sitting through them. There's one
featuring a British Bi-Athlete (skiing, shooting). I have no idea what it's
advertising. I looked up the gun he was using and they do a really neat laser
& target system. Like Tin Can Alley but for adults.

Long ads are much less impressive when they're repeatedly something I have
zero interest in ("It's showtime, you've been coding like a beast "[SKIP]) or
when they're lousy ads created by people who don't know what they're doing.

I usually leave them running in another tab until the content is ready. I
understand why other people would hate them and want to ad block them.

Also: I have zero interest in gambling, and I never want to see a gambling ad,
but I get loads. I wonder what recovering alcoholics or addicted gamblers
could do to prevent those ads from appearing, other than using ad-block?

~~~
VLM
"I understand why other people would hate them and want to ad block them."

Its not hate so much as being an unactionable distraction that interferes with
buy the perry the platypus wooden action figure it does nothing... oh wait see
how annoying that interruption was and how little it added to the
conversation?

Personally I prefer paid promotional product placement. So I was working on a
S-100 circuit board in my basement "lab" last night using my Hakko model 937
digital temperature soldering iron with 1/16th inch tip (or whatever
millimeters it is) and my Kester no-kleen #235 flux 0.02 dia solder (well you
get the idea) Like how most hollywood computers happen to be Apples.

------
rmoriz
I like the "south park episode with ancient aliens" part most.
[http://i.imgur.com/ZDoYFdR.png](http://i.imgur.com/ZDoYFdR.png)

------
irfan
Interesting point is that no sweet shop owner knows any sweet by the name of
'Jhajaria' in Lahore. Even 'Fazal Sweets' shown in this ad doesnt know about
it. Same seems to be the case in India: [http://thedailyretard.in/demand-for-
jhajariya-on-the-rise-af...](http://thedailyretard.in/demand-for-jhajariya-on-
the-rise-after-googles-reunion-ad-goes-viral-sweet-shops-owners-confused/)

------
veritas213
great ad..well done google. Maybe it takes a neutral 3rd party to make bothers
start talking. Can we get a north korean version next?

------
cs02rm0
Superb advert.

Slightly amused after realising that the first thing I then did was use
Facebook search to find Google's page to share it.

------
narrator
No ad will ever beat this diet coke ad:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmBDeswu2dI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmBDeswu2dI)

Now diet coke, IMHO, is crap and I won't drink the stuff but I can watch this
ad over and over again. Can one of you marketing geniuses in the audience tell
me why it is so awesome? :)

------
known
But for Bania Gandhi, implementing 'separate' electorates as per
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communal_Award](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communal_Award)
would have prevented India-Pakistan partition.

------
zaidf
On the topic of top notch commercials out of India, here's a memorable series
from Vodafone:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtDYZHGzGLE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtDYZHGzGLE)

------
MilesTeg
Google seems to be the expert in heart-warming commercials. Remember their
first super bowl ad?
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ4unnMgiSQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ4unnMgiSQ)

------
swamp40
Reading the subtitles reminded me of a dream of mine I would like to see
realized some day: A live audio-to-text translation to English scrolling
across the bottom of a Google Glass screen.

Talk about bring the world together...

------
yitchelle
I love to see similar Adverts with divides between \- Israel and Lebanon. \-
North Korea and South Korea \- East Berlin and West Berlin etc...

For me, this is one of the areas where technology can enrich our lives.

------
nirbhay
i am from india and i can tell you that no one i talked to found this ad
'moving'. its the same cheesy bullshit that we see all day.

~~~
linux_devil
I am from India and lot of my friends find this one moving.

------
dluu001
Very moving and and this article really helps everyone understand the history
of the partition that occurred.

------
r0muald
The thread where all HN users reveal their nationality, hometown, family
status and what not. So good!

PS fuck NSA

------
throwaway5832
/r/HailCorporate

------
chris_wot
Is it true that Apple doesn't have a single store in India?

~~~
swatkat
[http://www.apple.com/in/buy/shop/](http://www.apple.com/in/buy/shop/)

[http://www.istoreindia.com/index.html](http://www.istoreindia.com/index.html)

------
bane
It doesn't hurt that the acting is also phenomenal.

------
known
Are these Actors from Pakistan?

~~~
swatkat
No, they're are Indians. It's made by Ogilvy & Mather, India.

Cast info: [http://www.missmalini.com/2013/11/15/have-you-watched-the-
go...](http://www.missmalini.com/2013/11/15/have-you-watched-the-google-
search-reunion/)

Production info: [http://www.ogilvy.com/News/Press-
Releases/November-2013-Camp...](http://www.ogilvy.com/News/Press-
Releases/November-2013-Campaign-for-Google-Search-by-OM-India-celebrates-
emotions-of-reunions.aspx)

------
sonabinu
Great ad !!!

------
fivesquare
an ad with a value.

------
thrownaway2424
Yes I was suitably manipulated. Good job, mass emotional manipulation team!

But I am surprised they showed people searching for flight status and weather.
Google Now is supposed to already know you're going to Delhi and just show you
the weather there without you asking. Same for the flight status.

~~~
wrongc0ntinent
"Yes I was suitably manipulated. Good job, mass emotional manipulation team!"
\- thrownaway2424

Just agreeing with your sentiment, might as well share the downvotes.

------
benched
I don't care about emotionally manipulative film for its own sake. However, if
this did actually do anything significant to improve Indian/Pakistani
relations, I really would forgive Google for its asinine product design
decisions for as much as half a year.

