Things That Bang

The Hindu gods always had a sense of humor. How else would they have been able to deal with a gossiping Rishi like Narada? Enough tales have been woven around Narada's mischief in the heavenly abode. It isn't as if a bit of humor would kill the gods when the tales are woven on earth. They are not going to strike us down, they have supposedly better things to do like run the world - if you believe that they exist somewhere high up in the clouds or in some heavenly dimension.

On the heels of the Mohammad cartoons here is Vishnu responding to calls in a call center and the heading underneath is - Please Hold The Line While We Die Of Malaria.

Yes, we do die of Malaria. My grandfather died of Cerebral Malaria, my aunt too suffered from Malaria. Is it a laughing matter? not really; nor is it politically correct but since when has the magazine Onion known to be politically correct about anything?

There was a time when the cartoon of a naked fakir playing his flute to the dancing snakes was used to project India and now this. There was more to India back then and more to India now.

We know it and they know it. It was a crass joke.

What if there was another toon with Jesus smoking weed with the caption below- I Was Stoned And Missed A Few Tornadoes? Not funny, right? There is more to America than just drugs and natural disasters just like there is more to India than call centers and diseases.

Gods and Prophets can take a few jokes at their expense. Don't we put up with jokes made at our expense and are told to grow a thick skin? However I am not comfortable about jokes on famines, genocides, diseases and natural disasters. They entail real human sufferings and are no laughing matters.

Freedom of Speech gives Onion the right to indulge in tongue and cheek humor but at the same time they should realize that crass jokes can and do boomerang. This one didn't have me laughing but thinking at what point does a joke stops being funny?