The recent controversy that erupted between a stand-up comedian in Mumbai and his Sachin Tendulkar—Lata Mangeshkar take off goes to show that as South Asians we have such a poor sense of humor.  It probably goes far, far and way beyond into our history—as warriors, conquerors, and finally as a nation defeated by the British—only to reemerge decades later as an independent country.  If you look at South Asian literature over the years—it’s been historical, political, and serious in the thought process.   We have never and truly lightened-up and learned to laugh at ourselves, and the world at large.  Even our songs from the movies are sad—remember all those rona-dhona gaanas that played on radio and TV?  Sure, there are the ridiculous, salacious and if I may say so racist ‘Sardaaji’ jokes.  Today’s South Asian may smile if they understood a joke, or nod their heads from side-to-side like a bobbing head doll—the Indian gesture made famous internationally by Gregory Roberts in his bestseller ‘Shantaram’.

We make fun of South Indian, or Punjabi accents and laugh at American sitcoms.  But haven’t really carved a niche for laugh-out-loud comedy.  So it’s great that we have this new breed of humor writers emerging in India who write witty one liners right off the bat.   Most of their jokes are targeted at politicians.  And that’s actually a good thing because the people who often lead India are themselves good fodder for caricatures.  And R.K Laxman took advantage of that with his ‘common-man’ cartoon in the Times of India that ran for years’ altogether.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tours across the world have evoked smiles and smirks.  Says one cartoon “I don’t believe in maps, satellites and NASA,’ and then goes on to add, just above Modi’s smiling photograph, “I will travel myself to prove that the world is round.”

A lot of the humor is also focused on Rahul Gandhi’s lack of political experience, and linguistic incapability. “We must work for the party,” says Sonia Gandhi (the Italian bahu of the Gandhi clan) in her starched sari. “Mama Mia, oh, who’s throwing it?” repartees an over-excited Rahul. Some of the jokes can be wildly irreverent. Take this one for instance that starts with: After the grand success of Coffee with Karan, the television network will be telecasting three exciting new shows: Tea with Modi, Cerelac with Rahul, Cough syrup with Kejriwal. Thank goodness it goes on…Morarji Desai is dead.  (Morarji Desai was India’s PM who believed in urine therapy)

Twinkle Khanna’s blog entries also have subtle yet catty humor and take on issues like the beef ban in Maharashtra or the hush-hush world of women’s menstruation.   Architect and writer Clement De Sylva’s blog ‘Bandrabuggers’ is a hugely popular book written in ‘Pidgin’ English. DeSylva, who has been writing for over 10 years, says that positive responses never stop pouring in from those in his neighborhood of Bandra in Mumbai. Most of Clement’s funnies centre on family and Goan village life, like the famous cartoonist Mario but every once in a while he gets accosted by someone taking offence at something he has written. “I try to be sensitive and not hurt anyone’s feelings, but that’s not always possible. Political correctness and humor certainly don’t go hand in hand.”

So although instantaneous communication has opened the door to Indians globally to share a joke, have we really lightened up to accept when the joke’s on you?  Not really.  We are still uptight when it comes to jokes about Indian men openly scratching their crotches.  Or anything even remotely connected to religion.  Or sex.  That’s correct—sex is a closed door.  When god-men, or god-women are exposed and their nefarious activities brought to light there were blog entries that were completely berserk and it seemed like a huge bunch of sociopathic trolls were let loose on the World Wide Web.  On one hand the tongue-in-cheek snarky humor made the rounds, but the open-ended and vociferous threats were not only inane, but insane as well.

Moral of the story:  Make fun of film stars, politicians, cricketers, even the men in turbans, the price of vegetables, the dirt, dust and pollution, black money, the stock exchange, tax evasion, casting couches, philandering husbands, or wives for that matter, stinky body odor, menopause, hormonal imbalance, rising inflation, even caste, or class.  But never my friend, never ever cross the boundary and get into the religiousness side of things.  Make no joke of that.  But if you do, and you might get hurt by a tricolor trishul or spear, bludgeoned by an AK-47, or a cobra with fangs hurled at your neck.  And as Peter Sellers in ‘The Party’ would say in his Indian accent “Don’t you dare say you weren’t warned in advance!”

[Jude Paul Fernandes is the author of ‘Frost Bites’ which is available at the Toronto Public Library.  He is currently working on a novel ‘Lonely in Mumbai’ and can be followed on Twitter @JudePaulFerns]