A few years ago, I was invited to speak at the Karachi Literature Festival. In a conversation with a famous Pakistani satirist, I said, “A society that stops laughing at itself is as good as the dead.” I did not know then that this prediction would prove to be true. Today Indians are not only forgetting to laugh, but have also developed an aversion to humour. So much so that any joke can be a crime, and we are not even living in North Korea right now. Although it must be said that North Korea and its great leader are a delight to satirists and memes around the world.
Comedy shows left, right and center are being cancelled, comics are being booked, threats are being made, while elections are being fought with religious fervor, despite the pandemic. A very famous Indian comic book was done when he talked about Do Bharat. And he was not even speaking in India. He was speaking in America. In one of his shows, some long-distance patriots who live in America came to his show and raised slogans against him. Now, here’s what common sense would tell anyone. If you don’t like a show, book or movie, why bother to spend money and go for it. Unless you want to showcase your intellectual weakness in front of an audience. The good thing about this lot is that they don’t even realize how much fodder they give to a comic. A woman messaged me on social media saying, “You have no shame, you make fun of gods.” I checked his bio and it read, “If my husband dies, I will marry another millionaire.” In the mood for some fun, I politely replied, “Ma’am you have no shame, wishing your husband died and marrying a millionaire?”, to which she replied, “One can joke about relationships. but not God.” I was bewildered but couldn’t control my laughter.
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