Age-old proverbs in new capsules (3)

This is the 3rd set of proverbs – old and time-tested bits of wisdom that have traveled down the centuries and are, in my inion, valid even today. Hope it does not bore you ….....
Every cloud has a silver lining – a stock phrase to soothe ruffled feathers. When faced with a problem that has no easy solution, it is customary to console the aggrieved by suggesting that he approach the actual Gods rather than the lesser Gods.
Exception proves the rule – some people thrive on exceptions. To them, anything out of the ordinary is not bound by any rule. When you board a train, it is expected that you will reach your destination in one piece. If not on schedule then probably several hours later. But – when you arrive at your destination in several pieces packed in a crate – the authorities say ‘this should not have happened. This is an exception.’
Give him an inch and he will take a yard – we see this happening regularly. In a bus, when you see an elderly person standing and offer him a seat by squeezing yourself, he reciprocates by going off to sleep by putting his head on your shoulder. Similar is the case in reserved compartments of long distance trains. You try to be nice to some short distance traveler and, in a very short time, regret the decision and wish that you had not succumbed to the ‘feel good’ factor!
Honesty is the best policy – therefore support only honest corruption. Do not be misled by so called well-wishers who try to win your confidence by saying that ‘aap ka chinta hamare upar chhor dijiye, hum sab kuch dekh lenge!’ He is bound to ditch you.
He laughs best who laughs last – laughter is an expression of happiness. Situations where one can laugh his heart out are fast vanishing. Laughing clubs have sprung up to remind us that laughter is the best medicine. Today, we have laughter forced upon us as comic interludes to break the monotony of song and dance sequences in our Bollywood movies. These movies transform our world into worlds of fantasy and make believe where lost siblings reunite in the last scene as the bad ones get thrashed. Everything miraculously fits into place in the last scene! How unreal!! How we miss the good old days of Laurel and Hardy, Mehmood and Kishore Kumar.
Look before you leap – this is especially true in the night when walking down to your house from the bus stop or the market. All the roads, lanes and by lanes in any city resemble craters on the Moon. Potholes abound – mischievous ones suggest that these are intentional creations of nearby slum dwellers. To rid you of your belongings. If you miss your step, they will shift you to the hospital.
Make hay while the Sun shines – thanks to technology, the Sun can be made to shine at our will. We have invented incubators – to control the production of poultry chickens. We also have scientific methods within our grasp of generating artificial ‘sunlight’ that can convert grass into hay. So hay need not wait for the Sun to shine.
Man proposes God disposes – you plan a journey and numerous hurdles appear. The train may be delayed indefinitely or be cancelled. The flight may not take off due to fog. If it does take off, it may not land at your destination – again due to bad weather. You feel these are what God had ordained. You are grossly mistaken. These are results of the ineptness of those in charge.

Laughter, laughing clubs and comedy in movies

Laughing is good for the health, so the doctor prescribes, hence the growing popularity of laughing clubs. Members of these clubs assemble in open spaces and laugh their hearts out – the simple logic is that whoever engages in rollicking laughter not only lets out steam but also exercises all his muscles that are associated with laughter. Laughter as we know comes in many forms like grinning, smiling, laughing and guffawing! Whilst the first two types exercise the muscles of the lips and a tiny portion of the jaws, a guffawing laughter exercises the whole body. It literally activates all your muscles. Knowledgeable circles advocate hearty laughter to keep in the best of health. Magazines like Readers Digest used to regularly run sections like ‘laughter is the best medicine’, ‘grin and bear it’, ‘humour in uniform’ to make living more relaxed.
King Arthur had his court jesters and Akbar had his Birbal.
Court jesters were an integral part and parcel of the King’s inner circle and they occupied a position of considerable importance because, as and when the need arose, they were duty bound to rise to the occasion and lighten the atmosphere by narrating interesting and appropriate anecdotes.
The concept of the King is not there any longer but that of a comedian remains and in the Parliament and State Assemblies, the presence of such characters could lend variety to the heated debates that, at times, tend to go out of control.
When we turn to the cinema we find that in the fifties, there were great comedians like the one and only Charlie Chaplin and the duo of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. They used to make the audience roll with laughter without laughing themselves. Superb examples of slap stick comedy! That was the secret.
They were great artists because they could generate side splitting laughter by a mere change of expression. In the Indian scenario we had unparalled comedians like I S Johar, Johnny Walker, Mehmood, Mukri, Om Prakash, Keshto Mukherjee, Robi Ghosh, and Bhanu Bandopadhaya. When the situation demanded, regular actors like Amol Palekar and Utpal Dutta in Gol Mal or Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra in Chupke chupke or Farookh Shaikh and Deepti Naval in Chashme Baddoor played the roles of comedians.
TV serials like Wagle ki duniya, Hum Panch, Ghar Jamai and Sarabhai versus Sarabhai were examples of good comedy serials. Farookh Shaikh, Anantha Mahadevan and Satish Shah produced memorable performances. In comparison, todays so called comedy serials are too loud for comfort. Out of the present day screen comedians, the pair of Johnny Lever and Govinda has become popular along with Kader Khan and Saif Ali Khan. But, all of them tend to forget that an able comedian should have the power to generate spontaneous laughter. Laughter is something you cannot force upon somebody.
The only point to note is – there is a dearth of women comedians. Comedy appears to be a male bastion and could be a good subject for further research!