There is incredible truth in the fact that India is not comfortable talking about SEX, it’s just not.
So when Aisi Taisi Democracy was called on to perform a gig at MNNIT Allahabad and they started talking about sex education, the senior faculty just ordered to shut down their mics. The show was over in the middle and they were asked to leave. Read about the whole incident.
ATD show stopped at MNNIT Allahabad by a faculty member:
People often ask us if we have ever had our show heckled or booed, or been attacked for our views. Last night, we got a taste of intolerance and outrage, about, of all things, the part of our show that talks about hypocrisy regarding sex in Indian society. A professor got our mikes switched off and abruptly stopped the show. His reaction is perfect vindication of our views about how Indians cannot bear the mention of sex.
Meanwhile, students who had organized our show were grilled and scolded and browbeaten and told to post on social media that the students agreed with the professor’s actions. On the bright side, a large number of students, male and female, have written into us telling us how much they loved the show, and apologizing profoundly for the stoppage. We are so pleased that young Indians in the audience were a stark and welcome contrast to their outdated, outmoded and antediluvian professors!
– Rahul Ram, Sanjay Rajoura, Varun Grover for Aisi Taisi Democracy
– Rahul Ram, Sanjay Rajoura, Varun Grover for Aisi Taisi Democracy
Varun Grover adds:
All comedians in India know such a day is just around the corner always. But it still is disorienting & heartbreaking when it happens. MNNIT Allahabad had called Aisi Taisi Democracy to perform at gnoTalks 2016 and we were very excited as college gigs are always the most satisfying.
All comedians in India know such a day is just around the corner always. But it still is disorienting & heartbreaking when it happens. MNNIT Allahabad had called Aisi Taisi Democracy to perform at gnoTalks 2016 and we were very excited as college gigs are always the most satisfying.
The show started at 7 pm to an auditorium packed to the brim with more than 1800 screaming students. An hour into the show, with more applause-breaks than we have ever had, I started my bit about how we Indians are so uncomfortable talking about sex & at the core of it lies our severe lack of sex-education. While narrating personal experiences, I was consciously looking at the reaction of female students (clearly segregated, sitting in front) just to make sure they were not feeling alienated or uncomfortable. And they absolutely were not. The bit comprised of no cuss-words or insult comedy, not even talking down to the moral policing that’s been a leitmotif of all our lives here in India, but I still could see some of the faculty members leaving their chairs and walking out. This happened exactly at the moment I started talking about the core problem – lack of sex education while sharing a story about my school teacher who would pronounce sexual as ‘hexual’ in biology class as he was (probably) creeped out by the idea of saying the correct word in public.
30 seconds later, in the middle of a punchline, the power in the mic was gone. As an instinctive reaction, I grabbed fellow comic Sanjay Rajoura’s mic and tried speaking into it but it was gone too. Seeing some movement around the sound console, where our show manager Anurag Rao was stationed, my brain told me for the first time that something’s wrong & it’s not the electricity connection. I still went ahead to check Rahul Ram’s mic and that was working (‘cos he had a separate line for his guitar mic) but by then Anurag Rao climbed on to the stage and whispered to us – ‘The show is over. They want us to leave.’
The students, by now a confused mass of anticipation & oncoming-dejection, were making murmurs. Rahul Ram’s mic was also gone by then so he announced, without a mic – “Your professors don’t want us to continue. You guys were fantastic but unfortunately this ends here.”
Backstage, we came to know that one senior faculty member took great offense to the fact that we were using such dirty words ‘in front of ladies’. (Dirty words being parts of human anatomy.) The student organizers apologized profusely for the mess and reasonably shared their helplessness in front of a faculty too powerful & sanskaari. We were led out as all the students (including the female students they were ‘protecting’) booed the faculty and waved at us with sadness in their eyes. Many of them (again, both male and female students) later wrote to us in private messages how ashamed they feel of this mindset of moral-clampdown.
I think, as long as students stand with freedom of speech AND talking about uncomfortable issues (as they overwhelmingly were), hope stands. The orthodoxy has only the entire human history to revisit to understand why it’s called orthodoxy in the first place & why it will just go down the drain.
One hilarious nugget that came from the sound console guy – as the offended professor walked up to him, he said ‘Taar kheencho!’ (‘Pull the plug’) Sound guy told him ‘Sir ab taar nahin hota hai. Button hai yahaan!’ That’s how much out of touch the seniors are with where the world has reached.
And that’s it. The post clearly mentions that there were no cuss words and the female audience was enjoying the show as much as anyone. But the professors were not only uncomfortable but resented the usage of the word sex. And it went to such an extent, that they called off the show in the middle.
There is a definite generation gap that needs to bridge up for a lot of things to change in the country.
You can read the entire post here.