BENGALURU : Good morning, Bangalore!
I have been a performing artiste for over 20 years and my avatar as a stand-up comedienne has been the most loved and popular one. There is something so refreshing about having the acumen to make people laugh and I have worked long and hard to address serious issues using humour as a listening tool. Being humourous is perhaps the single most difficult thing to do.
As a theatre artiste it is easy for me to spout someone else’s dialogues to elicit a tear or a laugh but even now, after all these years, my knees buckle as I face an audience to do a stand-up show.
Over the years people’s tolerance and their prejudices have become so open that one never knows what they might take offence to! Though my brand of comedy is sophisticated (I’d like to think so), often, just the fact that I am a woman who claims her space and has so many words in her mouth can offend some chauvinistic people in the audience.
Anyway now the situation is such that my family is looking at me wide-eyed and terrified that I may be put on a ‘no- fly’ list if I have a conversation with anybody on a flight! Even more so if that ‘person’ happens to be a loud and obnoxious sycophant who says the most outrageous and vitriolic things and gets away with it just because he or she ‘toes the narrative’! What amazes me is that a couple of years ago, a minister from the ex-ruling party was accosted on a flight by a slew of reporters (camera and mic in tow) who asked him some really rude and leading questions. And when he declined to answer he was labelled a coward and a ‘chamcha’! Déja vu anybody?
I thought only the page 3 set hid their ages. Now it’s a national pastime. A well-developed thug opened fire on defenseless protestors in full view of the people who are sworn to ‘protect and serve’ and miraculously a birth certificate has surfaced claiming he is a minor! Well if a ‘minor’ can rape and dis-embowel a woman and throw her out of a moving bus like a piece of garbage and if a ‘minor’ can procure and discharge a gun…you have to be tried as an adult. As they say in namma oru, ‘Ashte’! Nowadays, political discussions are held behind closed doors and in hushed whispers. Everyone asks but one question. Who else? I am stumped for an answer myself.
But being brought up as a staunch Indian, where our Constitution was our religion, I can say only one thing. If we are a land that believes in ‘for the people’ and ‘by the people’, then we shouldn’t only be looking out for another bunch of ‘saviours’. We, the people, have to stand tall and speak out and tell any democratically elected government that we don’t agree.
All work and no play make Jill a dull girl. So, without much persuasion I trotted off to The Hilton to partake in a very charming Tuscany wine and Indian food paired dinner with the irrepressible Vir Sanghvi. Under a star-lit night a small group of us managed to laugh and enjoy a wonderful repast without one political debate taking place. It was refreshing to say the least as Vir, a seasoned journalist and TV anchor regaled us with his wit and the topic veered firmly around only the food and wine!
Anirudh Kheny and his lovely wife Neeti have managed to put their charming restaurant 1Q1 on the culinary map. Their Sunday brunches are popular for their food and an easy-going vibe with both the young and old enjoying a Pan-Asian fare with some great music. We had a lovely time, lost in the company of fellow Indians doing what we do best…enjoying ourselves.Till next week. Be positive!
(The author’s views are her own)