Sardar Jokes!

[g5johal]

we need to stop these sardar jokes from happening becuase these jokes takes the mick out keshdhari sikhs n makes a mockery to the name singh becuase people add singh at everythign for example relaxingsingh these jokes are immimature n stupid n racist. the most disgrace thing thing is when a sardar gets a sardar joke sent to him by another sikh these jokjes takes the mick out the sardars if we have these messages we need to delete them of our phone n help to close sits like jantabanta sites down n musilm priest makes a sradar joke on youtube

this man is a iddiot

we need to stop these jokes in hindi films to as a community

[Mehtab Singh]

And how do we convince so-called "Sikhs" who think its ok to do all this?

"oh come on yaar its just a joke"

MY FOOT!

[vikramjitsingh]

Fateh parwaan karro jiyo,

I had penned this article some time back:

http://www.panthic.org/news/129/ARTICLE/1332/2005-05-15.html

"Sadstic" Humor

Sunday 15th May, 2005

Vikramjit Singh - Guest Columnist

(KP)

I recall sometime back I attended a party and the guests were predominantly Punjabi Hindus. I was the lone Sikh and as I hopped from one group to another I noticed one similarity in all the groups, and the similarity was that all of them had a huge stock of Sikh jokes. From innocent to bawdy to down right insulting, the jokes made me go red in the face, but alas the guests took pleasure in my discomfort and continued with their Sikh bashing vide their jokes. I quietly excused myself and left the party.

A month later I attended another party and this time the host of the party where I had to bear the Sikh bashing was there. Only this time the tables had turned and in this party he was in a minority as majority of the guests were Sikhs. I think he remembered what had transpired at his party and he gave me a couple of sheepish looks. Here too I hopped from one group to another. From politics to sports to holidays were the topics of discussions. No jokes at the behest of any religion. Nearing the end I met my Hindu friend, whose party I had attended, and he literally hung his head in shame as I shook his hand and bid him adieu.

Quite some time back in my college days I had a Punjabi Hindu friend who was habituated to cracking Sikh jokes. It so happened one day that while walking out of a restaurant we frequented, he skipped a step and fell down and hurt himself badly. All the others after fussing on him for some time walked off and ultimately it was me and another Sikh boy who took him to the hospital and as his parents could not be contacted we waited for a good six hours in hospital, being his attendants. Thereafter this lad never cracked another Sikh joke in my presence.

I was traveling in the local train in Bombay a group of youths were teasing a Sikh boy by showing him their watch. It was noon time and they were teasing him that it was 12 o’clock. I got up and accosted them and asked them if they knew the history behind 12 o’clock. I told them that when marauders came into Hindustan and took captive thousands of Hindu women it was bands of Sikh warriors who attacked these marauders and freed the Hindu women and then returned them respectfully back to their homes. They did this at risk to their own lives and as they were outnumbered by the marauders they attacked them tactfully at a time when humans become slow in the responses. This is either at noon or midnight. Looking at the Sikh youth I told him to wear the 12 o’clock joke as a medal as our ancestors had done us proud and to pity these guys who were actually laughing at the cowardice of their own ancestors who did not have the guts to try to free their women. The group of boys slunk out at the next station.

Just recently there was an article about a jathedar who had married twice. I met a Hindu friend and he immediately said that now I could marry twice. I kept quite and just shrugged and changed the topic. But, this fellow smelt the blood of my hurt and so he just went on and on. When it got too much I just questioned him if Hindu ladies could marry four men? He was shocked and looked hurt. I informed him that Draupadi had married four men and so had set the precedence for Hindu women to marry four men. I then told him that recently the Shankacharya was in the news for all the wrong things but, had I ever made a mention of this?

What hurt me was an article penned by a columnist of the Hindustan Times, Mr Vir Singhvi, in which he says that stopping Sikh jokes would be an infringement on his right of speech. What about our rights? What Vir does privately is none of my business, but if such jokes are cracked in public then Sikhs have every right to object. The problem is that people like Vir have a warped sense of humor and a sadistic streak. They have to hurt someone to laugh.

I recall I was aboard a plane and a large South Indian group was aboard this plane. One of them got up and standing in the aisle cracked a Sikh joke. As he settled in his seat I went up to him asked him if he realized what he had done? Now as I looked at him threateningly he shrunk into his seat. Imagine he had a group with him and I was alone and he was shivering. Seeing his sorry state and the worried look on his wife’s face I shook his hand and calmed him and informed him that humor was the ability to laugh at oneself and not at someone’s expense. As I left I could hear his wife admonish him. As he deplaned at Madras he passed me and shook my hand and apologized profusely.

It is time that we stopped accepting this sadistic humor and taking it in our stride. Remember to be sadistic is bad and equally bad is to bear sadism.

Vikramjit Singh can be reached at vikramjit.singh@panthic.org

Guru Rakha