Our poor sense of humor

 A few days back I posted a humorous picture related to India's Prime Minister Modi. A few on my friend list who are  wonderful friends otherwise but ardent fans/followers/devotees of Modi got touchy and obviously didn't like it. But when I post a joke related to Rahul Gandhi or Kejriwal it elates them to no end. The same folks commend me, like my post and flood my comment box with ROFL memes if the joke or sarcasm is directed towards Rahul Gandhi. His detractors have a field day liking the satire with their "Likes" giving me thumbs up while his supporters fall conspicuously silent, a few thin skinned folks occasionally go berserk when the joke is directed to their "Mahaprabhu" (ultimate God).

In a healthy democracy we should not be hesitant of lampooning our political leaders, whoever he or she may be. I enjoy the caricature of Trump known for his idiosyncrasies and Biden for his bumblings on Saturday Night Live, a popular late night TV show in America which has a reputation of not sparing anyone. There is no harm in mocking politicians as they are thick skin breed. And we live in a democracy, not in Putin's Russia, Xi's China or Kim's Korea.

The political leaders worst mocked at in America were Bill Clinton post Monica Lewinsky scandal and Donald Trump as it is easier to make cartoons of flamboyant guys. Obama was least prone to caricature because of his cool demeanor. The great Indian cartoonist R.K.Laxman once said he found it most difficult to make caricature of Jawaharlal Nehru for later's cool demeanor. Both Modi and Rahul Gandhi are equally flamboyant to be easily poked fun at.

Unfortunately we have a poor sense of humor, not great at self depreciating humor and jokes directed to us. We laugh at others, but don't laugh at ourselves nor like to be laughed at as we take ourselves very seriously. That's because we carry tons of false ego and vanity - which prevents us from laughing at ourselves. We who eat a lot of spicy, stale food are world's champion farters but laugh at others who fart, rarely laughing at ourselves. Same goes with the jokes.

A point to be noted - the famous Sikh writer Khushwant Singh was a great teller of Sardarjee jokes. Such jokes were regular in his columns and he has compiled several Joke books too, mostly directed to his own community. The fearless Sardar never hesitated to speak his mind, nor lose an opportunity to make his own caricature and lamented that we as a nation lack the ability to laugh at ourselves. He didn't spare any one, not even himself. When SGPC, the Sikh religious body rebuked him for making fun at the expense of his fellow community the old Sardar responded to them - "Go to hell".

I don't mind cracking a joke at my own expense or my community of Odias. I am a Brahmin originally from the vicinity of Puri and have recounted lots of jokes about Puri Panda, the priests of Puri and my brahmin brethen from the nearby Sasana villages, many of whom are GODARA (posess elephant trunk legs) or KURUNDA (men with super size balls) due to fileria. I narrate those to friends often at my expense, making them roll with seizures of laughter (those who heard me can vouch for it).

During my Engineering days, a friend from Berhampur, a city from Southern part of Odisha used to crack jokes in his local dialect, often at the expense of himself, followed by volcanic erruption of laughter. Similarly the folks from the undivided district of Dhenkanal, also snubbed as DHENKUs are supposed to have wit as dim as the incandescent bulbs on a low voltage night. A Dhenku is supposed to be naive, slow witted. Only difference - unlike the Sardars, they are not known to run amock with madness at noon. It is another matter that Dhenkanal district has produced many brilliant minds who are far from being dumb or simpletons. 

It is not unusual to see litigations filed in courts against silly jokes on some plea or other. Should we file a petition or case against the producer of the movie "Chennai Express" for its Lungi dance song sequence and few other scenes, mocking at South Indians. Should we troll a Lungi (a loincloth worn around the waist which can easily taken off for convenience and multiple purposes) Mithun Chakraborty for his Bharat Natyam dance to the tune of Tamil accented "YUM KRISHNA AIYYAR YEMME (Hum Krishna Aiyar M.A.) in Amitabh's movie "AGNEEPATH" ? Should we ban the legendary Bengali actor Utpal Dutt for rolling his expanded pupil and snorting "Oodee Baba" ? As a nation, we should know how to laugh and enjoy jokes, rather than being laughed at for lacking a sense of humor.