Why Ramzan Chhipa keeps becoming a meme: the cake video, 'Chhipa Sahab' and more

Few people in Pakistan do as much real-world work and get as many memes as Muhammad Ramzan Chhipa. The founder of the Karachi-based Chhipa Welfare organisation is known for ambulances, rescue work and help for families in need. Online, he’s also known for something else: videos that people can’t stop sharing, quoting and remixing.

Here’s how the Chhipa memes started and why they keep coming back.

The cake video

The clip that made him a meme regular went viral in July 2025. In it, Chhipa surprises a young boy with a birthday cake at a shop. He tells the shopkeeper, as reported by The Express Tribune, to write that the cake is from “Chhipa Sahab”, but not to tell the family that he arranged it.

The contradiction, a secret gift with his name written on it, was instantly meme material. People joked, made parodies and repeated the line for weeks.

Reactions were split:

• Model and TV host Nadia Hussain called it “cringe” and “pathetic”, according to SUCH TV.
• Critics on social media called his reels “outdated productions” and “cheap acting”, and compared them with the quiet style of Abdul Sattar Edhi, reports The Current.
• Supporters said the videos, however awkward, got young people talking about ambulance services and welfare work, and told needy people they could approach his organisation.

One user quoted by The Current, who said they had met him, described him as having “heart and zero ego” and blamed his content team, not him.

The Onijah Robinson press conference

Earlier, in January 2025, Chhipa hosted a press conference for Onijah Robinson, the American woman who came to Karachi to marry a man she met online. Videos of the press conference went viral after a TikTok post by We News, and clips from it are still reposted as memes.

The ‘zombied’ campaign

In May 2026, a promotional campaign by his organisation was mocked online for its old-fashioned look, according to HIP in Pakistan, and the word “zombied” stuck to it.

Why the memes keep coming

The Express Tribune’s Rafay Mahmood put it well: Chhipa’s videos work online because of “affective friction”, the mix of sincerity and discomfort that makes people watch twice. They work at all because of his long record of real service. As the writer argued, cringe backed by character can work; cringe alone does not.

That’s the fair way to see the Chhipa memes. Laugh at the scripts if you like, but the ambulances are real.