Writing on currency notes is a strict no-no, with the government having stated that any defaced notes are immediately void. However, that’s not stopping internet trolls from using the new Rs 2,000 notes to breathe new life into an old joke.

‘Sonam Gupta bewafa hai’ (Sonam Gupta is unfaithful) is something you might’ve already come across at some point. While no one really knows where this particular phrase was born, a lot of Indians will remember seeing it written in Devanagari script on Rs 10 notes at one time or another.

Whoever the heartbroken lover may have been, what likely started out as spiteful comment spiralled into a common knowledge trend, similar to the ‘Beanbags’ graffiti spray painted across Mumbai’s walls in yesteryears. Eventually, the trend died down, and people stopped maligning the unidentified Sonam Gupta on their currency for fun. But now, thanks to the issuance of the new currency, people are once again sporting the phrase on their Rs 2,000 notes.

It’s taken over social media, making thousands wonder – who is this heart-breaker Sonam Gupta? And do others who share her name find it as funny?

Sonam Gupta (21), a commerce student from Mumbai, isn’t affected by the trend. “Some years ago too this had appeared all over social media,” she says. “We can’t take everything seriously. She believes that the jilted lover was stupid to make his personal grouse public. “I am constantly receiving messages and getting tagged in such posts all over social media. It doesn’t matter, people will stop after a while,” the college girl states. She isn’t ready to lose her sleep over something so stupid. “It’s not worth my attention,” she smirks.

“One of my friends forwarded me a picture and then followed a queue of messages and posts. I’ve never even had a boyfriend in my entire life,” sighs Sonam Gupta, who is pursuing her Bachelor of Dental Surgery from Indore. Initially, she took it sportingly, finding humour in the coincidence of the name. “My family too laughed about it when they first read this online, but later they were equally irritated,” adds the 23-year-old. She says she is being ridiculed even in her college (being the only Sonam Gupta in her batch). Even her WhatsApp status indicates how bored of the joke she has become. “Hey there! I am not that ‘Bewafa Sonam’... so please stop sending me ‘Sonam Gupta Bewafa hai’ images and links.”

Having been single her entire life, Hyderabad based Sonam Gupta says she couldn’t be bothered about the whole issue. “Why would I be angry or take it personally?” she asks.

“I am not the unfaithful one. I am pretty chilled out about the whole thing,” laughs the 23-year-old. Although her friends have been teasing her with photos saying, “Look, you’re famous” she just replies with a smiley face. The engineer says she can’t even be mad at her friends, as she would have done exactly the same thing in their position. “It’s the way friends have fun,” she shrugs.