“I Am Not A Virus”: Man Named Kovid Gets A Spelling Error On His Birthday Cake For Obvious Reasons

By Quinny Tan  •  11 Jan 2022 in News

Thirsty for JUICE content? Quench your cravings on our Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp

What’s in a name? For Indian travel start-up founder Kovid Kapoor, it has made him a social media sensation.

The 31-year-old’s Twitter profile declares: “My name is Kovid and I am not a virus.”

He posted this week that he had travelled outside India for the first time since the onset of the pandemic “and got a bunch of people amused by [his] name”.

“Future foreign trips are going to be fun!” he said in a Twitter post that had been liked 40,000 times and received 4,000 retweets by last Friday (Jan 7).

Went outside India for the first time since COVID and got a bunch of people amused by my name. 😂

Future foreign trips are going to be fun!

— Kovid Kapoor (@kovidkapoor) January 4, 2022

The comment triggered a barrage of jokes, memes, messages and interview requests, in a moment of light relief as the highly contagious Omicron variant caused case numbers to surge in India.

Kovid, an entrepreneur, shared how he has received hilarious jokes from many people due to his name including one during his 30th birthday where the cake shop changed his name from Kovid-30 to Covid-30.

In the comments section, the cake shop apologised for the mistake and replied saying that it hoped that its ‘synonymous counterpart starting with C’ would leave soon.

For my 30th bday, my friends ordered a cake – and Amintiri automatically assumed that it’s some kinda joke, and it should be spelled with a C not a K. 🎂 pic.twitter.com/3jrySteSbC

— Kovid Kapoor (@kovidkapoor) January 5, 2022

Mr Kapoor has joined in himself, declaring that he has been “Kovid positive since 1990” and posting a picture holding a bottle of Corona beer.

The Kovid + Corona joke that noone ever seems to stop talking about. 🍺 pic.twitter.com/cJ5VsHzhD0

— Kovid Kapoor (@kovidkapoor) January 5, 2022

The sudden spurt of attention was totally unexpected but he hoped it would bring some publicity to his business during a very difficult time for the sector, he told Agence France-Presse.

He has never had a shortage of ice-breakers at business meetings since the start of the pandemic, but has told coffee shops not to announce his name when handing him a beverage.

At Starbucks, the guy handing me the coffee pointed out the name to everyone else and they burst out laughing – I mostly use a fake name now. ☕️ pic.twitter.com/79STYv2uG6

— Kovid Kapoor (@kovidkapoor) January 5, 2022

Kovid is a highly unusual name in India but it means a scholar or a learned individual in Hindi and Sanskrit, with the “d” pronounced with a very soft emphasis.

Mr Kapoor’s mother picked the name well before his birth.

“It’s a memorable name with a beautiful meaning,” he said. “It makes for a striking introduction with anyone. I’d never change it.”

Well if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Good for him!