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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  How we deploy cruelty through nicknames
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How we deploy cruelty through nicknames

The Indian penchant for highlighting physical disability, and other monikers charged with stigma

Khushwant Singh. Photo: Raj K Raj/Hindustan TimesPremium
Khushwant Singh. Photo: Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times

I like Sardarji jokes, though I don’t think they’re called that any longer. I have not heard a good one in a long time and I don’t think those who write jokes that become popular (who are these talented people?) are focusing on “Sardarji" jokes any longer.

Sikh jokes are now called Santa Banta jokes. Out of curiosity, when writing this, I searched the Internet for images of “Santa Banta" and it turned out that caricatures of the two characters are not always Sikh (and the majority of images, inexplicably but pleasantly, were of women in states of undress).

I am writing about this issue because of an unusual event. Mint reported earlier this month (“Shadow Over Santa Banta", 6 January) that the Supreme Court would “decide if Sardar jokes offend the Sikh community".

Reports said the court would “seriously" examine a plea to ban these jokes “if the community feels offended and comes forward with an appeal for prohibition." I am reproducing part of an Indian Express report because it has a slightly surreal feel to it:

“‘If we think that your community does feel bad about it, we will definitely seriously consider it,’ said a bench led by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur as it heard Sikh lawyer Harvinder Chowdhury’s PIL (public interest litigation) that seeks a ban on such jokes. In her petition, she has claimed that such jokes are a violation of their right to equality with fellow citizens and an attack on the dignity of the community. Her petition said the court should order the government to ensure such jokes are taken off websites and filters are put in place to prevent the spread of similar jokes in the future.

“‘Does your community stand by you?’ the bench asked Chowdhury. To this, she responded that the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has filed a petition on the same issue and was engaging senior lawyers, including Ram Jethmalani, to argue for the ban.

“While Chowdhury was making submissions, the bench asked additional solicitor general (ASG) P.S. Patwalia to express his views on the issue since he was a Sardar. However, the woman lawyer continued to make submissions, not letting the ASG reply. Later, at the end of the proceedings, Patwalia told the bench: ‘We have taken things seriously.’"

I wonder what the court will decide and, if it does decide to act, how it will be able to criminalize SMS forwards and Facebook posts. I am leaving aside the argument of whether or not it should criminalize jokes because this will be yet another addition to an already large list of things banned and forbidden.

The Sikhs are not the only Indian community to be stereotyped and any large group of desis will have a nickname that will apparently communicate their broad attitudes and culture. And so, “Medho" or “Bong" or “Gujju". Some names will be charged negatively—“Mossie" (another ban required there?)—and others positively—“Tam-Brahm".

We are a culture that is unique in many ways, but one way in which we are different is how casually we deploy our cruelty. We have nicknames that highlight and emphasize physical disability (langda, kaana) or characteristics (gora, kallu, lambu, takloo), many of which are charged with stigma or envy. Gujaratis will have no problem nicknaming a hunchback khundo. Is this produced from the same instinct as in other cultures? For instance, blues singers, from the Mississippi Delta would often have physical references (“Blind" Willie McTell, etc.) also. I don’t think this is the same thing.

There is a loathing of physical disability in our parts, so the nicknames must be seen in that light.

All told, the collective Sikh identity is, I think, communicated positively. The Sardarji joke is just one aspect of the culture of the peasant Sikh that the rest of us warm to. His industry and enterprise, his work ethic are legend. His dance, his wedding rituals and his music, he has actually exported most successfully to other communities, to the point of replacing their own. And so, those of us on the outside can assure the community that they are a most powerful positive cultural influence on us.

Anyway, one reason Sardarji jokes are popular is because in one word one may communicate many things—a culture that is extroverted but innocent, unpredictable behaviour, a particular time of day, the opportunity for other languages to use Hindi in a joke, and, sometimes, a native wisdom, because often the Sardarji triumphs at the end of the joke, leaving the other befuddled.

As a child, I thought the word “Sardarji" communicated something oafish till I was older and understood it was two words: a title and an honorific.

My friend from school in Surat, Nainish Wadiwala, said to me that a short, one-line joke had won some competition and it went: “Once there was a wise Sardarji...". I thought that was quite witty (we must have been 14 or so).

The most famous broadcaster and popularizer, if not author, of Sardarji jokes was of course the journalist Khushwant Singh, himself a Sikh. I know what he would have made of the Supreme Court story.

I said at the beginning that I liked them, but I meant the idea of them: I do not find Sardarji jokes funny any longer. Partly because I am above mediocre juvenilia but also because former prime minister Manmohan Singh ruined Sardarji jokes for me.

He is everything the Sardarji of joke and cliché is not. Austere, thin to the point of emaciation (like Jinnah and Gandhi), humourless, highly intellectual, introverted (can you imagine him wearing a suit pinstriped with his name?), dour to the point of being emotionless and pragmatic to the point of often being opportunistic. It is no surprise that US President Barack Obama calls him his guru and most of us think he is a figure of ridicule.

Aakar Patel is executive director of Amnesty International India. The views expressed here are personal. He tweets at @aakar_amnesty.

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Published: 21 Jan 2016, 05:02 PM IST
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