Laughter as a soul cleanser

Laughter, somebody whose name I cannot recall off hand said, is the best medicine.

While many of us might think it is sound medication, if not the best, there are others who have different opinions. After all we are a pluralistic society or should be. But one never knows with the JVP and JHU on the one side and VP on the other.

There are those who think that arson is the best medicine and it would be even better if all the media that do not blindly support this government are burnt to the ground and journalists tied to the stake and set alight like Joan of Arc. There were such societies that believed in witches and other evil spirits which I find is more common today.

Our society has reached the nadir of depravity thanks to the unrepentant stupidity of people we have chosen and even those we have rejected, in that great political exercise called the democratic system.

Good antidote

Never mind. Laughter is a good antidote to the kind of politics bordering on anarchy that has begun to infest this country. Only thing is that there is not much to laugh about when bombs are falling from the air or exploding on the ground and innocent lives are lost because humanity has lost its way in the labyrinth of political perversity.

So the slightest occasion for a laugh is seized with gusto in the hope that it will cleanse our collective soul if it does nothing for the conscience of those who rule over us with the acumen of King Kekilla if not the humanity and understanding of a Mahatma Gandhi and the more recent Nelson Mandela.

Sometimes we do not have to try and extract laughter from some meagre source like trying to squeeze water out of stone. Laughter comes sometimes in abundance from the mouths of politicians like water flowing unceasingly from a brook or a broken water pipe in the city that the municipality has forgotten to repair or replace.

Laugh at them

If I have given the impression that the laughter of politicians is infectious and that we enjoy hours of uninterrupted joy because we laugh with them, I am contrite.

If such an impression has been created in your mind, I plead forgiveness for misleading you. Misleading the masses is another trait that has been unconsciously picked by associating with politicians.

Let me correct it here and now. I, for one, do not laugh with politicians but at them. So when I walked into Paradise Club, our favourite meeting place down Duplication Road, it was with a heavy heart but nevertheless unyielding and unbending.

Only the other day masked men armed with firearms entered the premises of our newspaper publishing house, intimidated employees and set ablaze our printing presses. They were such courageous men that they wore masks. I wondered why. Was it to hide their identities or because they had the kind of face that would look better covered than uncovered?

Police efficiency

Now the police are investigating this intimidatory attack and arson with an obvious sense of urgency, skill and result as they did when we were attacked a couple of years ago.

For a moment I had thought that there would be a government announcement saying that our leaders will ask Scotland Yard, FBI, Mossad, Shin Beit, RAW, Maldivian Security, Myanmar Secret Police and Eritrean Intelligence, not to mention the Haitian Humdrum, to come hither and bring to book the perpetrators of this dastardly crime which political opponents are falsely blaming on the government.

But then some of these chaps have been asked many times to help us solve mysteries that our police are quite capable of turning into even greater mysteries, that it is now becoming too much to rely on their kindness and expertise. More than anything else they have enough work back home to keep them busy.

Many friends

Our new found friends in Myanmar (old friends really but only recently rediscovered) have been busy beating up Buddhist monks and protestors who only wanted a little bit of democracy and freedom to express their views.

Our other friend Musharraf too has been busy sending his police goons to lock up judges of the Supreme Court and anybody else who even thought that the president cum soldier had overstayed his political welcome.

It was with these dire thoughts in mind that I walked into Paradise Club that evening and was immediately met with gales of laughter that seemed to rattle the rafters.

What could be so funny I wondered still unable to erase from my mind the attack on my newspaper office by which the marauders hoped to stifle our voice for a long time to come.

"Come my friend, come and join in the fun," implored Hamid "Fast Cash" Mansoor, Colombo's casinopathi. "Don't let the goons get you down."  He was obviously alluding to the arson attack on our press.

Minister's wisdom

"Let a little sunshine into your life. Listen to the wisdom of our media minister and let yourself be enlightened," added Puli Pachchathanni, the poet laureate of Pungodativu.

"Why what has he done now," I asked no longer surprised at anything that emanates from a ministerial mouth.

"Aah so you were not in parliament today, were you?" asked Ravi Ratevedda, former MP for Nadagama. "Let me try and paraphrase him for you. Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, to give his full name which our media keeps repeating like a mantra, said that he vehemently condemned the attack on your newspaper office, that the government is sparing no pains to investigate the incident and to bring to justice the perpetrators. Now what do you think about that as a sacred pledge?"

"Look how many times have these ministers spouted at the mouth about catching this fellow and that fellow who did this and that but haven't caught anybody have they?" asked Wendy van Rinderpest, that one time beauty queen. "What men they cannot even catch Mervyn Silva though the party secretary promised to hold an inquiry about his conduct."

Waiting for reports

"That is very unfair," intervened Tissa Isakudichchi, secretary to the Ministry of Ali Boru, coming to the defence of his boss. "The Minister said that they are waiting for the police reports."

"That my friend Tissa, is like waiting for Godot," said the poet.

"Who is this Godot. We are not waiting for him. We are waiting for the CID report," said an annoyed Isakudichchi.

At that everybody burst into more laughter.

"Don't you worry about Godot. You wait for the next godaya to come up with such cock and bull stories," said Dr. Ananda (Andy to the foreign NGOs) Ansabage.

So is that what was causing all this laughter," I asked

"Not at all, Pachoris. It was something else the Information Minister said," added Kandiah (call me Ken) Vinasapathi, formerly of the now defunct Civil Service. "For your information the Information Minister said the government has no intention to suppress or intimidate the free media. How do you like that for a joke?"

There were rounds of applause even from beyond our own circle. Hoots of laughter greeted the ministerial promise.