The season of roasting has arrived at the White House. Last night Trump bared himself to the annual roasting gala. And while the Americans may be having a healthy laugh even now, we Indians could do with some roasting sessions with our politicians.
While many standup comedians in India like Rahul Subramaniam and Kunal Kamra and groups like East India company take some jibes at the expense of the government, one wonders how many could take the dare of roasting Modi while the latter sits in the audience.
We are a healthy thriving democracy, and yet our leaders don’t take well to a sense of humour. They try to make light the serious proceedings in the Parliament with poetry. They sometimes throw barbs at each other across the well of the House. But they still don’t like it when the joke is on them.
Cartoonists like R K Laxman have become a national treasure by creating the most read column in national papers. And now there is some scope for comedians and actors. But a real roast, with the national leader in the front seat may take some years to actually happen in India.
When Meryl Streep or Hasan Minhaj roast the US President, the audiences love them for it. Though Trump missed the dinner that night, he attended the event last night.
Image Credit: thedailybeast
Indians have an intrinsic sense of humour. But they have not yet taken to roasting.
Not only in politics, but otherwise too,Indians are too decent to find joy in roasting someone. They find it rude and ill-mannered. Many were shocked with AIB Roast of Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor, and thought it apt when legal proceedings were initiated against AIB.
If Indian politicians would be open to such an event, Modi would hear some real Mann ki Baat. While it is fun to laugh at someone, it shows great character to be able to laugh at oneself. As Trump stands up to this test of democracy, one hopes that India too would adopt this tradition.
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