The Funny Sardar
Manjit Singh’s all pervading sense of humour, comic timing and the ready wit, to come out with funny one liners,which would bring a smile on everyone’s face, endeared him to many. He had some natural advantages. Unlike the rough and tough image generally associated with Sikhs, Manjit was a fair bloke with a benign face and a pre set twinkle in his eyes with a round face and pronounced cheeks which would swell when he smiled or laughed. And along with the patka or the formal turban sitting lightly on his head he had a pleasant demeanour. His athletic, average frame ,sweet and soft looks made him an unlikely Sardar. His greatest gift was his ability to laugh at himself and genuinely not only enjoy Sardar jokes but also came up with many himself, laughing and enjoying them with everybody. He was the funny man in college. His mimic of most teachers, coupled with his self effacing humour, made even the teachers smile and admire him. A man with strong common sense,which he used not only in conjuring up the jokes but also in his studies made him a sought after fellow at college. They would call him to parties and get togethers to enliven the proceedings which he would most willingly oblige; they would also call him to sort out serious differences that would often crop up once in a while among two warring individuals or two groups in college and he would soon disarm all with his funny interpretations of the issue and resolve things with his supreme common sense and humour.
Obviously he was as popular with the women in our college. He soon became the go to man for many a young lady jostling with love issues and other emotional or physical entanglements and he in his typical way resolved the most vexed of problems as a confidant and councillor using his humour and sharp common sense.Sardar Manjit Singh was a much loved individual at college.
Manjit was the youngest of three siblings, two elder sisters, from a small town some fifty miles from Singur in Punjab. His father had a small garments factory and it was his ardent desire that Manjit should take over the factory soon after his studies. Manjit however loathed the idea of going back to his little town. He was a happy go lucky character whose passion in life was to laugh and make others laugh and the big city of Delhi with diverse characters provided him enough fodder to fire his imagination and make new jokes.
Then one day he suddenly left. He told us he had to be home; his eldest sister was getting married. He was visibly excited about it and promised all of us a big party as soon as he was back. We missed him. Such was the love he generated by just being the funny Sardar.
Manjit did not come back. Days moved into weeks to one month and we all had a gnawing feeling something was wrong. Three of us decided to go over and find out. From the little pocket money that we had saved, we went to Manjit’s home on that Monday morning, a small half built house with a large sit out and probably three rooms. It was an ordinary typical home so common in the country side North of India. His father met us. We learnt from him that Manjit was in the ICU in coma, battling for his life. We were stunned. Our funny man was breathing his last.
His younger sister told us the story. The elder’s marriage had to be called off at the last moment as there were serious dowry issues. Manjit’s father despite all efforts could not meet the demands of the bridegrooms family. Manjit took matters in his hands and armed with his humour and common sense and the confidence acquired in college he went over to the bridegroom’s home to persuade them to see reason. Reality caught up with him. It’s one thing to have a highly refined sense of humour, quite another to propagate it in a hard world of material pursuits. It all ended up in Manjit getting badly beaten up and ending up in the ICU.
Manjit did not wake up.
