Dec

5

Have you told a Sardarji joke lately?

December 5, 2007 posted by indiatime |

“…Heaven is where the police are English, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and everything is organized by the Swiss. Hell is where the police are German, the cooks are English, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, and everything is organized by the Italians…”

The Uttar Pradesh (UP) police today filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Anil Ambani, one of the richest men in the world, and his company Reliance Communications, for their part in circulating a derogatory ethnic joke demeaning to the Sikh community. The charges relate to Reliance sending its subscribers a racist joke, a Sardarji gag, originating from a third-party joke supplier used by Reliance.

The Sikh community in India, also known as Sardars have often been on the receiving end of targetted humor that sometimes crosses the boundaries of decency and civility. That’s a pity, because such stereotyping often hides or distorts the tremendous contribution Sikhs have made to this country, for last 400-plus years.

The Princeton Trilogy, a scientific study of stereotypes perceived by Princeton University students, spanning 1930-1970, examined the content (student’s perception of a particular social stereotype, e.g. Sikhs) and the consensus (degree of agreement about the students’ perception) of changes in stereotyping over a period of time. It was found that the beliefs or stereotypes held in 1930s remained about the same in 1950s, though there was less consensus. And by 1970, the stereotypes had changed but more people were in agreement. That study basically says that over a period of time, racial stereotypes will change in various ways.

Nobody really knows when the Sikh community gained the ‘Sardarji stereotype’, but it was probably in the early to mid-1900s, and may trace its roots to some idisyncratic kings and rulers of that era. Some opine that Sikhs themselves may have perpetuated some of the stereotype by not resisting it, or as part of their open and easy-going nature, sometimes using it themselves for self-deprecation and humor.

But there have been times in India’s history when the Sikh community has felt alienated, threatened, or betrayed. And though things have looked outwardly calm and okay, something has changed at the seams of India’s social fabric nowadays with greedy and power-hungry politicians exploiting communalism as a tool to bolster their clout and power.

That Reliance Communications, surely unbeknownst to Anil Ambani, ended up sending an ethnically offensive joke to its subscribers may not turn out to be much of a deal in the eyes of the law. For many however, the more offending part is that the service is subscription-based, meaning some third party, mostly the joke vendor licensed by Reliance, is making money at the expense of the Sikh community. Anytime such humor crosses a certain boundary, some unhappy repercussions will resonate and are probably fully justified in this particular case.


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7 Comments so far

  1. Heard a Sardarji joke lately? | DesiPundit on December 6, 2007 6:23 am

    [...] are that you might not be able to in the near future. IndiaTime writes: The Uttar Pradesh (UP) police today filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Anil Ambani, [...]

  2. Indejit on December 6, 2007 8:48 am

    We ALL should not let these Corporate giants get away with this kind of cheap offensive humor there is a limit to everything.

    A DEVOTED SIKH

  3. sam on December 6, 2007 9:33 pm

    Oh.. come on.. I think, everybody needs to chill out a bit. One should take a lighter side of life. Sardar humor, Bhayya humor, delhi humor, bengali humor, gujarathi humor, Ghati [Maharashtrian] humor, Anna [Tamil or south indian ] humor are all have been part & parcel of our childhood & have always been cherished with a certain comfort level. One should not take these things very seriously.

  4. indiatime on December 7, 2007 6:17 am

    Sam,
    I don’t entirely disagree on that. But I can see why Sikhs would get upset about corporates paying a their-party vendor to supply jokes that compare religious sects or communities with animals.

    The difference in all the other humors that you mentioned and the Sardar humor, is that Sardars are a religious sect. An equivalent comparison would be humor that equates hindus or muslims or christians with specific animals.

  5. Sam on December 7, 2007 9:07 pm

    Your argument would be acceptable, if the jokes are about Sikhism which is a sect of Hindu religion. But Sardar term is & has been used without a religious tone to it. It is similar to Bhayya/ Anna/ Ghati terms etc. So It should be acceptable. If one calls this as a punjabi joke..then one could be adding a regional tone..which could create riots too.

  6. Gurpreet on December 19, 2007 4:21 am

    Sam i just wana say You are an ignorant fool, SIKHS are NOT a part of Hinduism, never were and never will be, read the damn history u idiot. We are a completely different religion.

  7. sam on December 20, 2007 12:55 am

    Sikhism was founded by Guru Nanak Dev, who was born in 1469 to a Hindu family. After four epic journeys (north to Tibet, south to Sri Lanka, east to Bengal and west to Mecca and Baghdad), Guru Nanak preached to Hindus, Muslims and others, and in the process attracted a following of Sikhs (disciples). Religion, he taught, was a way to unite people, but in practice he found that it set men against one another. He particularly regretted the antagonism between Hindus and Muslims. Guru Nanak’s most famous saying is, “There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim, so whose path shall I follow? I shall follow the path of God.”

    Retaining the Hindu doctrine of the transmigration of souls, together with its corollary, the law of karma, Guru Nanak advised his followers to end the cycle of reincarnation by living a disciplined life – that is, by moderating egoism and sensuous delights, to live in a balanced worldly manner, and by accepting ultimate reality. Thus, by the grace of Guru (Gurprasad) the cycle of reincarnation can be broken, and the Sikh can remain in the abode of the Love of God. Guru Nanak taught that salvation does not mean entering paradise after a last judgment, but a union and absorption into God, the True Name. Sikhs do not believe in a heaven or hell. Sikhs also reject the Hindu belief in incarnations (avatars) of God, believing instead that God makes his will know through the Gurus.

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