Gouranga! Or, the best spam ever

Last night I checked my work email, and discovered several new pieces of spam. It wasn’t surprising: In June 37 percent of the mail I receive at work is spam, in spite of the university’s claims that 30 percent of incoming mail is captured as spam and never makes it to our inboxes. There was one piece of mail that puzzled me. It wasn’t offering me cheap “c1allis” or “v1@gra,” a new way to enlarge my “d!cckk,” or a way to refinance my home or consolidate my debt. There were no attachments or suspicious links, just a message:

Call out Gouranga be happy!

Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga

That which brings the highest happiness...

I called Brian into the office to look at it. He had never seen it before, either, so I googled “Gouranga.” The first hit had something to do with Grand Theft Auto and I ignored it. But I quickly learned that it was a phrase used by Hare Krishnas meaning “be happy,” and that the spam’s been around for awhile. My favorite part of the explanation was that someone had identified themselves as the sender and given a very simple motive: I am just very enthusiastic person, who wants everybody to be happy.

Something about that made Brian and me smile.