For as long as I can remember, the festival of Gai Jatra, has been one of my favorites among the many fun filled festivities Nepal is known for. Begun by a king who ordered that any family in the kingdom that had suffered the death of a member in its household in the year gone should come out and parade in comic costumes, to show his queen who was grieving at the death of her son, that death is universal, and all who are born must die. This apparently made the queen realize that it was not just her who had lost a dear one. Satire had its uses, even then.
When Nepal stepped into the modern era, this festival started acquiring a cult status, because as Nepali society opened up, so did its artists. While freedom of expression was severely curtailed during the Panchayat regime, when Gai Jatra came, the comedians went at it with full force. No one was spared, sometimes not even the king and the royal household, which of course led to the incarceration of many a comedians. Brave were they who expressed their opinion knowing fully well that it could land them in serious trouble.
Come the dawn of democracy post 1990, and the rise of political parties and players, comedians got even more fuel for their fiery words of satire because of the way things were bring run in the country. Newspapers and magazines were full of the most embarrassing cartoons of politicians and the powerful. Comedy programs would be organized with halls packed with audiences laughing away at the mistakes of society and its leaders. I still remember some of the greats that made us laugh till it hurt. Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bansa Acharya, the MAHA jodi, were of course at the top of the game. We needed a good laugh, and Gai Jatra was a perfect occasion.
However, if one were to carefully observe the festival these days, it is not easy to figure out that the festival, and especially the mockery making part, has lost its charm. We do not hear of Gai Jatre programmes, or see as many newspapers and magazines coming out with their Gai Jatra special edition. There is no doubt in my mind that the years of armed conflict certainly did not help the festival as no one would have dared mock the Maoists then for fear of reprisal. But as soon as the Maoists came out into open politics there was again a surge in artists mimicking Comrade Awesome.
But the festival this year has passed in a somewhat somber mood compared to the frivolity of the past and it leaves me wondering why. The answer I get is in everyone’s lips. “We need not have a special festival for making a mockery of things anymore. This whole country has become a farce. The political leaders, parties, the Constituent Assembly members, the government, everyone is making the country a laughing stock everyday, so why the need of a special day?” responded one fellow Gai Jatra lover.
Perhaps he is right but has Nepali society really become tired of laughing at itself, that our ability to laugh at ourselves has waned? Or are we simply not in the mood to take a good joke? Or perhaps it is the seriousness of the matter that leaves us not wanting to laugh at it anymore. There are after all limitations to everything, even humor, when too high hurts.
Everything may not always be funny.What is even more dangerous though is to stop laughing at oneself, because the only society where one cannot laugh at oneself is a closed society, and that is not who we are.
Kaziba is a Nepali who dreams of conquering the world every night, but ends up waking every morning in the same prison.