Jaspal Bhatti understood the problems that confront the aam aadmi better than many politicians
I met Jaspal Bhatti for the first time on a cold evening of December 2003 at the Chandigarh Press Club. I was sitting with Prabhjot Singh,my senior colleague at the paper I worked for at the time,The Tribune,when in walked Jaspal,a regular at the club,I later got to know.
He saw Prabhjot,his friend of years,and walked up to our table and sat down. Even before he could settle down,a waiter brought his drink,a single malt. And then he introduced himself as if he needed an introduction. Prabhjot told him who I was. I asked Jaspal if he always had the same drink at the club. His reply: (Single malt) only if somebody else is paying!
Two hours later,he got up and went out. We sat for one more hour,but he didnt return. Any guesses on who settled the bill?
The first impression,it is often said,is the last. Not in this case,though. After that winter night,I had many more sittings with Jaspal and got to know that he always drank single malt and always insisted on picking up the tab. And he became a friend.
Having grown up watching him on Doordarshan his satirical comedy series Ulta-Pulta,followed by Flop Show you expected him to be always cracking jokes,always being the funnyman. But,in real life,Jaspal was a serious person,who understood the problems that confronted the common man much better than many politicians.
Decades before the superhit film 3 Idiots commented on the scam in our education system,Jaspal,in an episode of Flop Show,had already done so. Decades before policy paralysis became the buzzword,Jaspal,in his inimitable style had highlighted the problem of bureaucracy refusing to take decisions in a time-bound manner. When he (playing a bureaucrat) is asked by a reporter while emerging from a meeting,Sir,aaj ki meeting mein kya decision hua? Jaspal replies in all seriousness,Bada important decision hua hai. Agli meeting ki date fix ho gayi hai (A very important decision has been taken. We have fixed the date for the next meeting).
More than a comedian,Jaspal was a satirist. Few people know that he was an engineer with the Punjab State Electricity Board,a job he left to try his luck as a cartoonist and satirist.
Unlike the comedians we see on TV or the big screen these days,Jaspals humour was biting,taking potshots at the system without being lewd and raunchy or even loud. Watch his tutorial on the technically correct way to eat atta (wheat) biscuits to understand what I mean (the clip is available on YouTube).
And,in his actor-wife,Savita,who produced almost all his ventures,Jaspal had found the perfect foil.
Maneesh,yaar,let me be the umpire for a few overs at the cricket match, he once asked me. The match he was referring to was to be played between the Chandigarh Press Club and journalist-members of the Lahore Press Club,then on a goodwill visit to Chandigarh.
Why do you want to be the umpire? Play if you want? I asked. To this,he replied,Na,na. Umpires can fix the match much better.
Long before Anna Hazare struck a chord with the aam aadmi in the city,Jaspal,through his Nonsense Club,had turned the streets of Chandigarh,especially the Sector 17 Piazza,into his stage,highlighting the issues confronting people through spoofs and satirical plays. Politicians,especially those from Punjab and Haryana,were always dreading his next statement,which he made through his street plays.
God took him away prematurely because he needed somebody to tickle his funny bone. What other explanation can there be? RIP,my dear friend.
maneesh.chhibber@expressindia.com
