Losing the funny bone

Ira Pande

WE all knew how dirty the run-up to the 2019 General Elections is going to be, however, the ongoing civil war in the CBI has exceeded even those fears. Relationships within our investigating agencies and the inner sanctum of the central government were long rumoured to be murky but with the media exposing the dirty laundry being hurriedly washed and every neighbourhood WhatsApp group adding its own masala to these revelations, one wonders where all this would lead to. What will the country lose or gain is no one’s concern at the moment. Sensational scoops and hysterical Breaking News is drowning all sober considerations for the time being. So, let me not add to the noise and filth flying in from all directions, but speak of something else altogether this week.

Coming soon is the new wedding season with and all its attending glitter. A hilarious social media post I received recently, announced: ‘It’s official, Kalyug is here! Padmavati weds Alauddin Khilji,’ a satiric take-off on the November nuptials of Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone. So while one half of the country is furious at the slow dismantling of our institutions, the other half still finds an opportunity to laugh at what fools mortals be. I find myself siding with this second half (which does not prevent me from worries about the collapse of our democratic pillars) for often there is more wisdom to be gained from these tongue-in-cheek remarks than from those high-minded editorials and TV debates between Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

In an earlier time, long before cable TV, there were folk groups (the bhands and nakkals in Punjab, for example) that did hilarious take-offs on the high and mighty. Their audiences were mainly village folk who thronged these performances at fairs, local weddings and festivals. These delightful performers managed to fuel public outrage without spreading social hostility between communities.

Habib Tanvir, the legendary practitioner of folk theatre, mined the talents of the Chhatisgarh village groups and fashioned his Naya Theatre, a drama company, from their Bundelkhandi dialect. Tanvir brought unforgettable plays full of laughter, song and dance to urban theatre lovers who had never seen such energetic, entertaining performances on their proscenium stages. The innocent buffoonery of these rustic artistes left the viewers with many deep issues to ponder over. To me, this is the true purpose of entertainment and public performances. Satire was a fundamental component in such artistic experiments and for this first play, Agra Bazaar, Tanvir chose the simple, satiric verse of Akbar Allahabadi to convey the immense wisdom that lies under innocent funny lines. 

However, somewhere along our journey into the new century, we seem to have lost our sense of proportion. Time was when we could laugh at one another without rancour. Gender, religion and personal relationships (in-laws, bosses etc.) were acknowledged as free territory for all of us to take potshots at each other in a good-natured way. Add to these the Mallus, Bengalis, Sardarjis, Biharis, Gujjus and Tam-Brahms, and you had a hilarious perspective on their idiocyncracies. But then the moral brigade stepped in and every remark was analysed and dissected for perceived slights. It started with the West and its declared war on race and colour prejudices and rapidly spread over the world. Soon, fatwas were being issued by self-declared protectors of the faith to intimidate and terrorise freedom of speech and expression. Today, there is virtually no social or artistic movement that has not been the victim of a vicious, ‘fundoo’ attack. 

Both the MeToo movement and the Sabarimala temple entry for women have actually harmed the causes they support and allowed individual histories and opinions to take precedence over the larger issue at stake: ensuring the right of women to equality and dignity in professional and public spaces. By going after individuals, they seem to have run out of steam. Now what? In many cases, the accusers themselves were revealed to have rather flimsy examples of sexual harassment to offer and may well be cases of personal score-settling. Yet, it is equally true that the pain and humiliation that women have endured for decades at work places needed to be ‘outed’ and aired. 

In many cases, the older generation of working women (particularly in the media), has written persuasively about how it dealt with sexual harassment and bias. Confident voices of women from the mainstream media have come out. However, I wonder how small towns and regional media offices treat their young female employees and who will ever speak for them. It also puzzles me why lawyers, doctors, academics and corporate houses have been largely left unquestioned. I wonder why? It is not as if we are not aware of the murky dealings that happen in these areas but perhaps there is more than meets the eye here. 

All this leads me to wonder what we have won and lost. For sure, we have lost our sense of humour and proportion. So, look around before you open your mouth for what you may find funny, is bound to offend someone else. Best of all, keep your humour to yourself.