Friday, November 30, 2007

Never Become Your Own Joke

Note- This is an email forward I received today but couldn’t resist posting it here.

Last Diwali vacation, my couple of friends had gone to Delhi. They rented a taxi for local sight-seeing. The driver was an old sardar, and boys being boys, they began cracking sardarji jokes, just to insinuate the old man.
But to their surprise, the cabbie remained unperturbed. At the end of the sight-seeing, they paid up the hire-charges. The old man returned the change. Moreover, he gave each one of them one rupee extra and said, ''Son, since morning you have been telling sardarji jokes. I listened to them all and let me tell you, some of them were in a very bad taste. Still, I don't mind because I know that you are young blood and are yet to see the world. But I have just one request. Here I am giving you one rupee each. Give it to the first sardar beggar that you come across in this city.”
After several days, my friends still had that one rupee coin with them. They couldn't find a single Sikh begging on the streets of Delhi.

Friends, we all love sardar jokes. But the fact of matter is that Sikhs are one of the most prosperous and diversified communities in the world.

The secret behind their universal success, according to me, is their willingness to do any job with utmost dedication. A Sikh will drive a truck or set up a roadside garage or a dhaba, but will never beg on the streets.

So true !! They are the most hard working people I have ever seen. From a small farmer to country’s Prime Minister, we have seen them everywhere.

That reminds me of a person whom we kids used to call sardarji uncle. He was my father’s friend. Before anybody else could start, he always used to crack sardarji jokes.

Once he was asked by someone “Don’t you feel hurt when people throw jokes of dumb sardarji at you ?”

We see dumb people everywhere; only difference is that you guys don’t have guts to admit it.” was his quick reply.

Mann, we all should have at least one sardarji around us. He was a thorough gentleman, very witty and intelligent as well. I miss you sardarji uncle.
As per my experience .. the ratio of probability of occurrence of an intelligent Sikh to the probability of occurrence of a intelligent
non-Sikh guy is quite interesting. Got it ? Never mind. :)

And right now, I am listening to the beautiful album Nine by Pankaj Awasthi. I like all the nine songs of this album, a nice fusion of electric guitar and tabla.

Current Song:- Khuda Ka Wasta Tu Dekar, Mere Ram Ka Tu Naam Lekar – Pankaj Awasthi
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28 comments:

AJEYA RAO said...

Ya, as kids such funs are okay but as I grew up, i realized that fun does not mean at the cost of someone, you have to involve everyone in your laugh...Not laugh at one person. I see that happen always, even among my firends. We tend to make one person a scape goat.

GMG said...

Wonderful post, Cuckoo! Not surprisingly... Always learning in your blog!
Our sardarji are the «alentejanos», but not necessarily so prosperous!

Rajat said...

no doubts sardars are one of the most hard working and fun loving people...

Abhijit Dharmadhikari said...

An eye-opening post! Sardars are there in every walk of life...very hardworking and dedicated! Thanks for sharing this post...

Catmoves said...

There are a number of Sikhs living in Albuquerque and from what I know of them, they are indeed prosperous and very friendly.
And, yes, they've been known to tell me jokes in English.

Unsugarcoated Reviews said...

i'm not sure what a sardar is and why there are jokes about them...

but if none of them beg and are all hardworking, then that's very good. very good indeed.

Amey said...

I just realised, I have known people from Punjab, but I have yet to know a proper 5-K Punjabi Sardar.

Incidentally, I like the jokes where my friends (or present company) have a starring role ;)

Ashish Soni said...

hmmmmmm....

i don't know wat people think bout sardarji.......but they are really sweet people.......one sardar in your group.......you don't need anything else.....i swear....

**IMP**
Some moron stole my blog's old url while i was on a break...

this is my blog's new url......
www.sweetali.blogspot.com

n yeah...
u didn't tried neother "Haiku"...
was waiting to count the syllables.. :P :P :P :P

tc

Sigma said...

Yes that is true - it is extremely rare to find a sikh begging. They are one of the most hard working and dedicated community. I remember an incident related by a sikh friend of mine - some years back, the golden temple management committee decided to desilt the sarovar there - they called for volunteers, and estimated the job to take a month - but so many people turned up that the job got over in 10 days or so .... people had so much of faith and dedication that at places where there was no way to pass through, the volunteers lied down and asked others to walk on their bodies.

As for the jokes, in my experience, some of the funniest (not crude, mind) sardar jokes have been related by sardars!

Sam said...

it really is worth appreciating dat u'll never find a sardar beggar!! never... and this lot is such a wonderful one.. always ready to crack a joke... have fun.. and yet wen at work damn serious... can make any damn tough situation a light one... love their attitude yaar!!

Anonymous said...

Pankaj Awasthi is amazing !
thanks.

SiD said...

Guess there are 2 communities famous for the fact that they have the ability to laugh on themselves - Punjabis and Parsees...
and if a person has the ability to laugh on himself, the world laughs with him and if you can make everyone smile - what better than that!!

proud to be a Punjabi.. bruaaaah!!!!

Cuckoo said...

Ajeya,
We tend to make one person a scape goat.. Yes, true. But that gentleman was a person who took it very sportingly and actually taught others a lesson.

Gil,
Thank you. Oh I didn’t know about Alentejanos.

Not all Sikhs (or sardarji) are prosperous but they do not hesitate to accept any kind of work, however small it is. Very self respected people and hard working. It is true, I have never seen any Sikh beggar in any part of the world.
If you don’t already know, our current prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh is a world known economist and yes, he is a Sikh.

Cuckoo said...

Rajat,
I agree. And they are the most simple hearted as well.

Abhijit,
Thank you very much. :-)

Catmoves,
They are in each corner of the world and that shows their survival instinct. Hard working, simple hearted, fun loving and self respected. They are not ashamed of doing the smallest of jobs… always better than begging.

Cuckoo said...

Cyberpunk,
Sikhs are fondly called sardar. Just like you hear jokes about blondes, sardars are the target of jokes among Indians.
And yes, I don’t think anyone of us has ever seen a Sikh begging. Read above my reply to Catmoves.

Amey,
Ha Ha.. good that you realized it !! Der aaye durust aaye. :P

And for me, these days here in Mumbai I miss Punjabi tashan from my life. When I feel like, I start saying something loudly (in Punjabi) … :)

Cuckoo said...

Aashish,
one sardar in your group.......you don't need anything else..... So very true ! Many will agree to it.

Oh that’s bad. How did it happen ?? Hacking ? Had you given your password to someone ? I am worried about mine. OK, next post on that, I have something to tell. :-)

u didn't tried neother "Haiku"... Ha Ha… not so soon. Will reply to your question on Haiku post itself. Keep watching, friend. Ki kya hua tha, kaise aur kyon hua tha.

Sigma,
I haven’t seen any Sikh beggar in my entire life. They are one of the most hard working people I have seen and not ashamed of doing their job.

Thanks for sharing the incident. Yes, joke part is so true. :-)

Sam,
Yup !! Agree 100%. Thank you. :-)

Cuckoo said...

Anon,
Thank you very much. I don’t know why but for last one week off & on I have been listening to him. Do you have the whole collection ?

Sid,
A big smile on my face. :-) Parsees ka pata nahi but being from north I am damn sure about the other one. :-)

Thank you.

Ram N said...

my colleague (who's also a Sikh) told me the same situation about you cant see any sikh / sardar begging ....

agree with you ....

Ranjeet said...

Hi Cuckoo, Good that you posted this on your blog which is quite popular! I am glad it helps pass the message of not being funny at someoen else's expense. Kudos!

Anonymous said...

I'm gonna get publically flogged for saying this. I agree with your post, but since we are taught to be cynical, here's a thought:
Maybe sardarji's become bauna (shave off hair) before they start begging. Who knows?

Lakshmi said...

Great post..actually all jokes , esplly those that are making fun of stereotypes are quite distasteful..esplly when they cross a limit

Cuckoo said...

Ram,
Thank you.

Ranjeet,
Thank you very much. I just had to pass this message on.

Priyank,
Ohh you have a totally different view which I had never thought of !! Yeah, who knows.

Yes, I agree with you on that. Anything can happen in this world but then why would any sane person do that ?

Backpakkar,
Thank you very much for liking it. Yes, I am with you on that.

Nabeel said...

awww .. nice photo. I could just tell that he has a warm and loving family.

bEAST said...

@Priyank,
Yup. You could be absolutely right. That is the exact same thing that came to my mind when I had read the particular email forward in question here. In my life I have only seen Sikh begging in Dehradoon. There was a bunch of Sardar kids barely 12 years old begging at at the Rajpura road if I'm right. Other than that I have never seen a Surd begging.

Cutting the hair thing might be true to quite a big extent but the fact is that Sikhs or Punjabis in general are a very proud, and egoistical race. Infact it is more of ego than pride that keeps them from begging.

Cuckoo said...

Nabeel,
Welcome back !! How was your Pakistan trip and how is Sugarlips doing ? Say my Hello to her.

Thank you for liking the photo, yes it looks like so.

Beast,
Thank you for replying to Priyank. Some more help is needed… I’ll be obliged if you reply to some more comments. Lolz… I am slowly trying to reply to all the comments that are pending on different posts… around 50 of them !! Phew !! I think I should stop blogging.

Now about the post.., I don’t know why it came to your mind after reading that email because I can not even think of a surd begging. In my opinion, as you rightly said, they are way too egoistic to beg. They’d do any damn job to survive but won’t beg. And needless to say, I am very proud of their this quality which other genres of our country/world lack.

Anonymous said...

I came across this blog while surfing and of all of the blogs, sites, this one in particular is quite sincere(not hurting the Sikh sentiments). However, its a sad bite of reality that people in India still don't understand sardars, Sikhs. A sardar who has cut his hair is no longer considered a sardar or a sikh, so the few of you who are trying to bring into existence the notion that sardars are beggers by saying they could cut their hair, are at a loss. One other thing, Sardars are more proud then egoistical. This is a mere trait of being punjabi...
Punjabis in general are real proud people, the ego part comes second. Everyone has an ego, look around its a characteristic of being a human being. Sikhism teaches control and minimization of the ego, which leads to a life of humility. Just by surfing various sites, you can see a sad turn of events that sardar jokes are becoming more racist and used by people with utterly gross motives for discrimination..

But I'm happy to say that there are some good people on this blog..
---From a sardar...peace, bacause that's what our religion teaches...--

Cuckoo said...

Inder,
Thank you for your so encouraging comment. This is my old blog, I no more blog here so I have copied your comment on the new one.

Also, your profile is inaccessible and I can not say thank you to you. :-)

Unknown said...

all lazy people who see hardworking sardars r the 1s who had started to bug them by these comments covered by sugar name jokes

nitesh kapoor