It’s 2022 and Santa-Banta jokes still make people laugh. The cringe-worthy WhatsApp forwards, the badly edited troll pics and the preposterous idea of “12 bajj gaye” is still entrenched and it’s about time that jokes on sardars take a back seat or at least actually start being funny.

My problem with jokes on sardars isn’t something which you’d expect from a quintessential, 21-year-old sardar with a misguided sense of religion. Nope. My problem lies in the domain of analyzing good or distasteful humor.

I’ve been a connoisseur of pun-making and dark humor myself but the only difference between the jokes that I like and dislike is a simple fact that the ones I dislike are JUST NOT FUNNY. If you start a joke with “Santa tells Banta…”, I’m gonna stop you right there and walk away in the opposite direction. It’s the sort of jokes that I used to hear in grade 3 or 4 and after a while, me and most of the people around me grew up and our sense of humor matured by leaps and bounds.

Keyword here: “Most”.

Some still stay in their cocoons and think that pointing towards a Sikh guy to mock his hair/beard/turban is funny and cracking a “12 bajj gaye” joke would make them a comedian. Yeah, how about no? The most it’d do you is, land you a spot in Kapil Sharma’s show (which again, wasn’t even funny and I’ve written about it here), that’s all.

Jokes On Sardars

The Problem With The “12 Bajj Gaye” Joke:

You’ve probably heard this story, now. So let me give you its short version: Nader Shah, who was the Shah Of Persia in 1739 looted India and kidnapped over 2000 women and the news was heard by Sardar Jassa Singh, who was the commander of the Sikh army that time.

He used his soldiers to attack the raiders and free the women at midnight (12 a.m.) a number of times, thereby using darkness to execute this operation efficiently in stealth and giving rise to the public ideology of Sikhs being extremely powerful at midnight.

Okay, what’s funny here?

If you folks can’t respect the rich history which we carry, the least you could do is not mock it. Sure, your pea-sized brains will probably laugh at this article and you’ll leave a few crass comments but the joke’s on you for being a person with a bad sense of humor.

The Problem Extends To Movies, Too:

If I could turn back time and access the powers of omniscience and omnipresence, I’d tell the director of the movie Mubarakan to not even think about directing that movie. 2017 was the year it released in and I still don’t have the courage to watch it after watching its God-awful trailer and its God-awful interpretation of Sikh attire and terrible accent sported by Arjun Kapoor.

The condition of Sikh characters is so bad that the only sane Sikh portrayal in the last few years is probably of Ranbir Kapoor in Rocket Singh. Yes, all Sikhs aren’t loud or pushy as you’d believe.

In fact, read the following article to know more about some eminent modern Sikh personalities: 7 Of The Most Significant Sikh Men And Women Of The Modern Times

Taking it back to the idea of good and bad humor, the problems with jokes on sardars often arises from the reaction these jokes get from the Sikh community.

Often, these jokes are received in an extremely distasteful manner by most elders due to the difference between cultural ideologies with the youth (which serves as further fuel to people who make crass Sikh jokes) whereas the millennial sardars understand the subjectivity of humor but at the same time, we know the difference between a good joke and a bad joke.

There’s no lid on humor in my world and even the Supreme Court Of India couldn’t pass guidelines directed to effectively ban jokes on sardars but we need to realize the idea of how slapstick humor has matured. If jokes on sardars exist, so do jokes on other religious communities which we are fine with but then again, let’s act like grown-ups if we’re so proud of our advancements as a generation.

Jokes on sardars aren’t cool, folks.

If you wish to make them, at least be funny and be prepared to hear some funny comebacks as well.


Image Credits: Google Images

Sources: The Indian Express, The Tribune, Real Sikhism and more


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6 COMMENTS

  1. now an app on android Playstore called ‘Haptic’ is sending jokes on Sardars, Sikhs, Punjabi, Santa Banta & likewise. i’ve contacted them right now and asked for a written apology on mail. i have all the screenshots to proove that the app did such a wrong thing. Also wrote a mail & sent screenshots to google & also to zee news too. I’m lookng forward to their apology & info. about have they fired the person responsible for it or i will take this matter to legal authorities.

  2. The App you are talking about is not good. I have all the screen captures to demonstrate that the application did such an off-base thing. Likewise composed a mail and sent screen captures to google and furthermore to zee news as well. I’m anticipating their conciliatory sentiment and data. about have they terminated the individual answerable for it or I will take this issue to legitimate specialists.

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