Importance of irreverence: Decoding India's sense of humour

As the debate heats up on whether or not Tanmay Bhat's jokes were in bad taste, I have a different question. What is India's sense of humour? India as a country has to have a sense of humour, right? You can't be a vibrant democracy and not have a good sense of humour about things.

Thoughts on Kejriwal and AAP

On 10th Feb, 2015, Aam Aadmi Party created history in Delhi politics by emerging as the single largest party in the State elections. AAP won on 67 seats out of 70. To be honest, I didn't expect the party to fare this well. It was not because I had any doubts in Kejriwal's ability as a crowd-puller but, the negative publicity that had been done by the political opposition seemed to have struck a chord with the Delhi common man.

I can only admire Kejriwal's skills as a human resource manager to revert back from that sort of low where even he was pushed to admit that resigning from the post of Chief Minister was a mistake. He was cornered and there seemed to be no way out. Of course BJP blundered by fielding Kiran Bedi as their CM candidate. Her obnoxious personality beamed through in all her TV interviews. It was not that she was a bad orator. It seemed as if she had sold her soul to the devil and was gung-ho about it.

Yet, something doesn't add up. There was a strong case for BJP in the wake of this new Modi era where BJP was projected as a saviour from all sorts of evil. Congress will loot you, AAP will abandon you, only BJP can save you. If I am not mistaken, the air was laden with a lot of favouritism toward the Right-Wing. Now, here is the time to sing accolades to the beauty of democracy. You can never take anything for granted.

BJP dug its own grave by keeping mum on controversial 'ghar-wapsi movement' and 'four-children per family statements'. It also stopped talking about development and Modi brand and focused on defaming Kejriwal. Even when there are kids fighting, the kid who keeps quiet usually gets less rebuttal from elders. BJP was the other kid- the tantrum throwing, sulky, brash, annoying kid. I think that is what happened.

Even then, 67 seats to a party which had lost its face. In Lok Sabha elections, AAP had performed poorly and even schoolteachers refrain from giving good grades to a child who has recently flunked. The Delhi voter is no schoolteacher I guess. It patiently watched and weighed its options. I am not saying AAP was a bad choice, it was common sense to vote for AAP but, it is just too shocking to see common sense prevail so widely.

You can convince an urban rich person to vote for AAP because even though its politics has certain flaws, it is not dirty politics. But, to convince the poor that politics can be free of issues relating to religion and mud-slinging; and then convincing them to vote for a relatively new party- it seems tricky.

I am not saying I know the secret of AAP's success. I am just saying there has to be a way around populist politics which AAP found. It was either the meetings that Kejriwal held in different Delhi localities, or the alluring campaign which focused on clear and direct promises. Whatever it was, it was a work of genius and all I can say is- well done, crusaders.


On a side note, I admire how Kejriwal has a sense of humour about things. Here's a video by TVF proving that-

Book Review- It's For You Mihi- Md. Asif

Author- Md. Asif
Titile- It's For You Mihi
ISBN- 9789383023042
Genre- Fiction
Publisher- Parlance 
Price- Rs 150
Pages- 215

This review is much delayed mostly because I didn't know how to go about it. It is review I am doing on request and before and after this book, I read books like 'To Kill A Mockingbird' and 'A Narrow Road to The Deep North' so, when this book came in the middle of all those instant classics, it got more cringe-worthy than usual.

I will try not to be an intellectual snob while doing this because high chances are that my own beliefs will get in the way. First of all, stalking is glorified, then the filmy romance is the main masala of this novel. The theatrics and drama are high and the dialogues are your regular conversation statements. It would have been much nicer had the author written the novel in Hindi as the main flavour of the novel is very small town North Indian type.

It is a love story and a pretty sappy one at that. The book has flashbacks and romantic epiphanies abound. For someone as skeptical as me, it was difficult to sit through it so I would definitely not recommend it to those who don't enjoy that sort of stuff. Moreover, the books makes a lot of assumptions which are actually okay if you think from the writer's perspective but dialogues like, 'She made another boyfriend? What kind of a girl is she?' are not gonna be a hit with the feminist lot.

I am intellectualizing a simple novel I know. Anyway, let's talk about the language. It is nothing florid, just regular talk. Even the narrative is dull and unimaginative. The syntax is way off the mark and you'll find sentences like 'Among oceans, seas, rivers, ponds, swimming pools, dams, wells, pits and pots, eyes have the most powerful drops of water to shed.' There are good ones in there too but, some bad ones just ruin the narrative. The novel needs editing.

The pages are nice and crisp and the font is the right size. The cover design is better than the actual novel. The author actually had a good story but he didn't give it enough time to ripen. If only had he put down that thesaurus and actually thought more about the art of writing, probably attended a workshop, the novel could have been better.

The novel will appeal to teenage girls and boys who don't care much about the quality of English and share the small town sentiments about love and all the theatrics associated with it. I give it one and a half star.

*1/2

If you're celebrating the arrival of monsoons, here's a reminder.

The Sun Comes Closer

Knives in Parliament

Looks Versus Brains!

In my series of intellectual-sounding blogposts, here's one more. We often come across people who are out of our leagues, well, at least I do. Now, that is almost always based on appearance. How does this notion of superior and inferior looks come into picture in a world where it's all relative? I think I'll take the concept of subcultures to explain these conflicts. We know that every society has a mainstream culture and a set of undercurrent or sub- cultures. These cultures emerge out of deprivation and anomie i.e. normlessness. When the society sets certain goals for individuals that turn out to be unachievable for them, those dejected people turn to form their own values and cultural norms and that results in the genesis of what is called as a "subculture".

Looking at people who prioritise looks over anything else, we can assume that they form a subculture which regards beauty as its primary standard. How does physical beauty turn to be so important for these people. Such people are characterized with extremely careful attitude toward their looks and take extra care to groom and prepare themselves. They look down upon the untidy ones and gossip demeaningly about them. One of the reasons of the emergence of such an extreme attitude can be the lack of intellect and thus, the inability of fulfil the criteria expected by the society which considers academics to be the criteria of prime importance. So, in this case, the geeks and nerds are derogatory terms and hunks and babes gain social approval.

If we reverse the scenario and consider the external beauty-minded ones to be the mainstream culture, then the outcasts would consist of these braniacs who actually are lacking in the department of physical appearance and the ability to groom themselves. This perspective assumes that these people work on their academic skills harder because they need to compensate for the sake of their self worth for their lack in appearance. And since this subculture has to gain approval, it looks condescendingly on those who do not follow its rules. Bimbos and dimwits are some of the condescending terms popularized by this subculture.

Now, by the way of above explanation, it is unclear as to which one is the main or dominant culture of the society as both seem to be overlapping subsets of each other. I'd propose that we do not delve deeper into the question of which one is dominant and for our understanding's sake assume that both are more or less equal in terms of quantity and frequency in the population.

There are also people who have both the brains and looks. For them, there still, is a question of priority. I think, it is these people who can provide us with deeper insights into the psychological underpinnings of the condescendings and admirations involved in either societal norms. Do they have to be critical of 'bimbos' when they're with their fellow nerds? Do they look down upon 'geeks' when they're with hunks? I think they are the perfect chameleons, at least some of them. The others might pick a side and stick with it as diplomacy might not be their cup of tea.

So, which one are you?

When China Attacked India!

Comic Book Review- Akhiri Dhruv

Title- Akhiri Dhruv
Publisher- Raja Pocket Books (Raj Comics)
Artwork and Story- Anupam Sinha
Editor- Manish Gupta

Today, I'd be reviewing a comic book on my blog. Being a big fan of this art, it was always due on my part to review one of these amazing stories that continue to fascinate and capture the imagination of everyone who is young at heart.

I am aware that a sizeable population of my audience might not be aware of these characters and stories but I have had an awesome childhood just because of these. Here, I'd be reviewing one of my favourite characters- Super Commando Dhruv's comic book- Akhiri Dhruv. I picked up this book from a small stand near Patel Nagar Metro station, New Delhi. The ownder of this stall seemed like a comic book enthusiast himself. He told me how his collection of comics is the largest in the whole area. Also he dared me to find these comics anywhere else in Delhi upto New Delhi railway station.

Anyway, coming to the comic I have in my hand- Raj Comics has been improving a lot to match up to the international standards these days. That is visible in the glossy paper used and the amazing coloring effects. I think the first comic of this new age was Kohram which changed the whole way we viewed Indian comics. Akhiri Dhruv is also one such comic with a complex and amazingly entertaining storyline. It is based on the back to the future theme where there has been a major exchange. The lineage of Dhruv has survived in the future and has been defending the world against the evil. Now one of Dhruv's successors- Dhruvishya had to come back to past while Dhruv has gone to the future due to some mishap. This major exchange pits the two greats against difficult problems of each other's eras. When it's Dhruv, you know he will come out as a winner. No matter what the situation. The indomitable spirit of this guy keeps amazing me every single time. I have never come across a bad Dhruv comic and that is because of the unique problem-solving attitude of this superhero.

Anupam Sinha's artwork and story is as always, spot on! This guy keeps getting better with every comic. If anyone has the right to be called the Stan Lee of India, it's him! I just hope he keeps churning out many such tales from his stable. The concept of the futuristic cellphones with 3-D images is mind-blowing. The cover page art is dynamic too. The colors in Dhruv's costume always brighten up the pages. I wonder why this character never falls victim to petty vainglory given that he knows how awesome he is. I bet that'd be a great concept to work upon for Anupamji.

Ok, now a few brickbats- the decision to do away with the calligraphy in comics and go with the printed word has backfired with Raj Comics. For Hindi purists, there are far too many spelling and grammar mistakes in the text and even if you ignore them, the comic sans-like font is a bit tacky. One other minor problem I have with the artwork is that sometimes, Dhruv's face keeps changing it's contours in different frames. I think in this regard, Anupamji should take a leaf out of the book from Manu (Doga-fame)'s artwork. His drawings of different characters were fairly accurate and even without the mask, we could easily identify Suraj aka Doga in each frame.

Anyway, that hasn't been a big problem and I have been thoroughly  enjoying the super adventures of the Super commando Dhruv! Here's hoping for many more such comics!!

Gandhiji's new three monkeys!

Comedy Nights With Diggy

Sounding the Ayodhya bugle

Durga Shakti

Prime Time News

Time to change- The shackles of the stereotype

This is about the "Time to change" contest by Stayfree India. You can see the Facebook page here

Well, if I could change anything around me, I'd change the way people judge each other on the basis of caste, religion and language. I do not like it when people form rigid, biased opinions about other people who they don't even know in person. 

In a country as diverse as ours, we need as much tolerance as that can be summoned up to live in harmony and happily. We already have a population of happy-go-lucky people who care a hoot about a person's cultural, linguistic and religious background and realise that what matters most is the human to human connection.

There are certain situations which leave a bitter taste in the memory when they happen to someone, they are like fuel to fire. As a country, why can't we be more tolerant of each other and let others live? With my cartoons, here I have tried to explain what ticks me off about the judgemental nature of the Indian populace-

1. Regionalism. I don't like how every south-Indian is a "madrasi" for some north- Indians. The great Indian North- South divide is due to the apathy shown by these fistfuls. Bullying them over "idli dosa" and generalizing everyone is not doing anyone any good.

Same is true for the generalizations regarding Biharis, Gujaratis and Bengalis etc. Generalizations serve no purpose than to create communication barriers.

2. Caste- based discrimination is much more deep-rooted and much more difficult to eliminate. There are people who place humanity above all but, still you'll find people who'll ask which caste you belong to you and then act accordingly. If you're from a lower caste, suddenly all your educational qualifications boil down to a null and you become one of the downtrodden, either worthy of pity or someone to be looked down upon.

We need more people like these

Sadly this is something so common that we consider it "normal"

3. The divide created by language is pretty deep at places. Try asking your way around Chennai- if you're not from Tamil Nadu. Hindi is something untouchable here. I'd like to change this too!

4. Another scum on India's face is the false sense of regional pride which causes generalizations to occur and divides people on small matters. True; one should be proud of one's heritage but not to the point that it disregards the present and basks in the glory of the past. 

I would like to change all these notions, break these stereotypes and see all of us, hand in hand working toward a better future. A future with endless possibilities. A future where our differences only make us stronger, a future where no one is afraid of change.

Yes, that's what I'd like to change! I hope I am not asking for too much.

The Great Indian Sense Of Humour!

In India, the elder or the more powerful you are, the funnier are your jokes. "Haven't seen you around for quite a while, buddy?" one asks and gets a "hehehehe... you're the one not providing a single glimpse to us mere mortals, sir... hehehe". There is a certain cockiness in the Indian modesty. It is, I dare say, not modesty at all. When complimented on how well we are doing, it seems that we can't take it. The immense pressure to smile in gratitude and thank The Almighty and simultaneously agree with the compliment, all we can let out is a simper and a grin. The cliched words that are said in the reply do not even make any sense- "It's all your mercy, sir.", "God is great, sir" or a simple "Hehehehe ... bas... saab hai.. (It is what it is).

It's so hard to decipher the sense of humour of an individual while it's mighty easy to make a crowd laugh. You sit with someone new, you say something funny and if it doesn't strike a cord, all you'll get is a blank stare. Not even a "confused" or "repulsed" look, just a cold blank stare and you dare not repeat the joke, because anyone has the right to disrespect anyone in this democratic country. While when in a group of 3 or 4, just make a funny face while saying the most mundane things and they'll laugh. All they need is one smile and it multiplies until no one knows why are smiling! The wise ones always find and keep a "smiler" with them when they begin a group conversation. This is mostly the person who is the most needy, sometimes it's just the dumb one.

We Indians, say the most rude things while laughing and strangely no one takes offense. In a nation of mc-bc, we are brought up to be rude to strangers. Well behaved people who respect the queue discipline stay in the queue while the "Hatt bhencho!" ones reach the top of the ladder as the crowd cheers them. We easily imagine that the father is stronger, wiser and more able than the son in every regard and when a son is trying to do something which breaches the norm that we have laid down for him, we ask him- "Tere baap ne kiya hai kabhi?/ yeh toh tera baap bhi nahi kar sakta!/ Iss kaam mein tera baap hoon main!" etc etc. (Has your father ever done this?)! So, when we refer to someone's father, we actually mean someone better. We don't mean to offend, yaar!And it's funny to be rude!

Also, you're not supposed to take offense when someone comments on the way you look. See, we are a country of  a gazillion people so, it helps to classify and categorize people. All the north-eastern states, Chinese, Japanese, Nepalese, Thais, basically all the folks with slant eyes are chinki chowmeens! All the south- Indians are Madrasis. All the spectacled nerdy ones are "chashmuddin- bajaye been"s. All the dark ones are kallus, all the fat ones are motus.... and so on! It's funny to us.


Here's a list of a few things that are funny to us-
1. Two people fighting on the street. (Don't you dare separate them! Bring the popcorns!!)

2. Farts! (C'mon! Farts are funny!)

3. Loafers teasing a girl! (I mean those guys are hilarious!)

4. Some dumbass shouting obscene remarks about the actor and the actress in a movie hall! (Who cares for class?)

5. Peeing in public! (I'm sorry, just kidding. Peeing in public is not funny! It's our birthright!)

6. Someone peeing under the signboard "Dekho kutta moot raha hai" (Look! The dog is peeing) (Funny 'cause the person who put up the signboard thought that it'd affect our peeing-ability!)

There are more but I think I should stop! I need to go pee on a wall!

Crushed!

Love is a special feeling. Of its various forms, involving most hormonal and heart matters is the one towards the opposite sex as in a "love-relationship".

A preliminary stage of this love is infatuation or attraction where you are obsessed with a person's charm or beauty and cannot think beyond him/her. I did have a few crushes and still carry fond memories of all my infatuations.

Ankita
She was a fair girl with a charming smile from the "B" section of my class in school. I wasn't quite a ladies' man and although a bright student, I couldn't muster up the courage to even look any girl in the eye and tell her that I'd really like to be friends with her, leave alone trying to talk to Ankita.

I didn't quite notice until my maths teacher Mr. Patkar brought it to our notice that she was a really cute girl. He asked kids to sing once in free-time and she took the center-stage and sang- "Neend churayi meri" from the movie album "Ishq" and I was just taken aback by her charming voice, confidence and attitude.

It wasn't a big deal for her though. She was very grounded and level-headed for a beautiful-unapproachable kind of persona; I say this as she did respond to my subliminal eye-contacts positively and talked to me whenever she met me.


We used to commute to school by the same wagon and I've lost count of how many times had she tried to thaw the ice of shyness between us and how many times had I re-constructed the ice-wall and drawn a line of uneasiness while starting talks with her. I am not embarrassed to say that she did play a major role in bringing me out of my hermit shell and making me feel comfortable with girls... the extremely beautiful ones that is. One of the moments that I still have with myself is when she sat beside me in the congested wagon and I felt like she was leaning over me... God! I can give my life to go back that beautiful moment again... it is an extraordinary memory, the ever-smiling princess sitting beside the mysterious loner. Her submissive yet authorative figure still remains in my memories fresh as dew-drops on fresh green grass.


I know there's a huge probability of my crush being a one-sided affair but, I still prefer to believe that she liked me too. We hadn't talked to each other much but I did realise that she was very comfortable talking to me.

Later on, I realised that she was the daughter of a leading politician of our area which instead of deterring me in my mission to marry her (laughing-out-loud), had me dreaming of having the rich politician as my father-in-law.

But, as time passed by, my shyness got the best of me, our chemistry faded and she too, like other typical Indian small-town girls grew mindful of not mixing up with boys. She changed, I didn't!

I still remember an incident (which by the way has no meaning in this context) when I was sitting alone with her in the tempo-wagon, one hot summer afternoon, returning from the school. Like other public transport vehicles, the wagon had a steel rod to hold on while it hopped its way through the pot-holes in the streets. Seeing her sitting alone, I started acting macho-macho and behaved like I neither cared nor needed to grab hold of the steel rod as the wagon started jittering on the pot-holes. All of a sudden, the lights went out and I grew a severe headache in my head in that tacky and sweaty afternoon. Yes, I had hit my head on the steel rod and I highly doubt that it went unnoticed by her. She acted like she didn't see it but couldn't hide that smile...

Richa
Another girl that stands out of my memory from approximately a hundred crushes is Richa. A perfect smile, short height and a superb confidence in her ways are things that I remember her for. I genuinely think that she liked me which is the biggest point of attraction as far as my thought rays go.

As a newbie in my new school, I was the subject of speculations among all the classmates of mine. My first face-to-face encounter with Richa was a great one- I knew her as a girl who eloquently delivered speeches in assembly and was quite bold and honest in her demeanours.

Once as the bell rang and students moved (ran) out of their classrooms, my hindi teacher (who I hated for his ignorance by the way), asked me to go after Richa and tell her that he's calling her. I waded through the crowd and told Richa to meet the teacher and went on with my stroll towards the school gate. She, after listening to whatever brief message the teacher wanted to convey, caught up with me and said Hi.

I looked around and made sure that the Hi was directed to me. She giggled and said- "Yes, I am talking to you." Her tone was friendly yet humorous... I, as someone who wasn't used to the words of greeting, returned her greeting in a quivering voice. I always thought that Hi, Hello, Good morning etc were so plastic and unuseful expressions but, that incident changed my view... a little. We chatted for a while, it was raining, she was smiling, I was... well.. happy.

It is not that I am a loser or thick-skulled who shivers in presence of girls, I just am never the one to break the ice first and leave my fun-side open only for very a few people.

Anyways, she went on her way, I walked towards my destination- the paths separated... but when I looked back, she was smiling and looking at me. My heartbeat raced faster, I smiled, she waved her hand and said "bye". I choked again. She patiently waited, I raised my hand too and whispered "bye" which I don't think reached her ears but made her giggle again... ah! perfect smile.

To be continued...