A brand new pub in Colombo, called ‘Uncles Colombo’ s Instagram page features a ‘natami’, porters who work under grueling conditions and less than minimum wage on the highly congested streets on Pettah, to advertise the bar.

The image of a natami pulling a heavy load is accompanied by the caption, ‘After a heavy day...take a load off and enjoy a podi chat, some bites and a shot with your machans.’

‘It’s incredibly insensitive,’ a Colombo resident told Asian Mirror. ‘The natamis exist on the lowest rung of society and are historically and traditionally disenfranchised.’

Interestingly, the bar is highly popular with Colombo’s civil society who are usually at the forefront of advocacy on issues like this.

‘Is their advocacy hypocracy then?’ the Colombo resident asked. ‘It’s like going to a bar which uses tea pluckers to promote their drinks.

IG user ‘zaragaga’ commenting on the photo has also asked, ‘do people pulling carts at Pettah also get to come and have a shot here as well, or is this just poverty porn?’

The pub is located at Colombo’s upscale Park Street Mews, frequented by locals and foreigners alike.

Although the comment was made to the page’s public profile two days ago, there has been no response and no attempt to remedy the gross mistake.