Buffoonery is serious stuff, Maanniya MPs

On Wednesday, a very serious MP and Union minister accused a different kind of very serious MP of being part of the 'elements of buffoonery' contingent. That the 73-yr-old minister also described the 55 yr-old minister as a 'youth leader' suggests that the former believes buffoonery to be a condition or symptom of 'youth' - a description, for some reason, the septuagenarian continues to give a man in his mid-50s. Now, lest you think we jest, as you may reckon by the logo of this column, we take buffoonery - behaviour that's considered ridiculous but amusing - seriously, even as public duty.

Buffoonery is that scandalous cousin of gravitas that deserves not suppression but subsidy. For ages, we have worshipped solemnity, especially when it comes to public lives. But society's true lubricants are pratfalls, horseplay, tomfoolery. It punctures pomposity faster than any opposition tactic. The universe is absurd, as are some actions and beliefs of 'serious men'. So, why let only one kind of stiff-lipped seriousness be taken as apex behaviour? Let the blubber-lipped variety also prevail as a check. A squeaky shoe at a shraadh ceremony is not disrespect, it's the sound of gravity. Buffoonery is the reminder that dignity is a fragile balloon, easily punctured by the whoopee cushion of a repartee. Without it, solemnity curdles into hot air.