BENGALURU: Hello, my Bangalore.
As I sit down to write this column, for the first time I am feeling low, alienated and vulnerable. I am putting it out there because some of my readers and acquaintances feel that I should always be on a high-voltage motivational performance mode… and frankly, it is starting to annoy and irritate me. Just because stand-up comedy is one of my genres, it doesn’t naturally mean that I am always happy to give you a gifted repartee just because you expect it from me.
I am certainly not there to amuse and entertain you at the drop of a hat! Many well-meaning friends are quick to point out that I should be doing online shows to promote myself further. Honestly! Don’t they realise how condescending and insulting it sounds to me? I have been a performing artiste, writer and corporate nurturer for over 20 years. I am still working (thank you!) with corporates as a trainer and motivator online. I am the only woman in the world using humour as a training tool. Why should I make little videos or voice recordings of myself and try to emulate other ‘funny people’? Making people smile or laugh makes me feel good, and I made it a part of my vast repertoire over 20 years ago when the others were in diapers!
Why do I rant, you may ask. Well, because giving personal examples always forms a deeper sense of identifiability rather than being generic with my audience or readers. I have always been forthcoming during my inter-personal conversations, through my writing or corporate seminars, even while dealing with touchy subjects like sexual harassment or the ‘me too’ movement. As Indians, we are naturally reticent and secretive because it has always been frowned upon in our culture (especially for women) to share. We have been brought up to believe that what happens at home stays at home (I hope that was true) and if one shared or complained, ‘people’ would snigger or ostracise you.
Somehow, the ‘good family name’ rested squarely on the victim’s shoulders! We are a paradoxical people. We are suspicious, superstitious, selfish and self-centered (I have used all the possible unkindly adjectives) on one hand, and trusting, liberal, generous and helpful on the other. We will share our meagre food with you and yet spit, cough and fight to wear a mask or maintain social distancing. Just look at our booze shops. Forget social distancing, the people standing in the queue (some even hanging onto each other’s shoulders) look like long-lost lovers!
We are all trying to wrap our heads around this situation. What is appalling is that a ‘famine type situation’ has set in. In a crisis, human beings tend to get into a very ugly and dangerous behaviour pattern. It is only the sane amongst us that must valiantly remind ourselves on a daily basis that we too must not succumb and not forget that we are an evolved species. We must not become jaded or give up. When we open our doors after this crisis has passed, we must be able to recognise ourselves as human beings.
My neighbour who is a builder forced himself and his cronies into his office ostensibly for an hour because he had to fill out a ‘government’ tender, blatantly flouting the lockdown. Of course, I appealed to his better senses (where he only ended up threatening me), the police (who were clueless about the convoluted BBMP rules), and my local MLA, but to no avail. As I write this, they sit boldly ensconced in their office. It is a helpless situation as our neighbourhood is rampant with Corona cases. It’s also not re-assuring to hear our health minister say that only God can help us.Perhaps it’s true that only ‘He’/ ‘She’ can help us. Humans certainly don’t want to help each other.