The social media has its own contours such as memes and stickers. Memes have been a a rage for quite some time. Some five years ago, when they were just bursting on the internet horizon, one of my PG students chose to write her term paper on memes.
Of course, I encouraged her. Yet it was rather a shocker for me that she could 'describe' them ('very kindly' - in her barely suppressed opinion-ated air - for me!). She could not, however, 'analyse' them. I wanted her to explore the communication strategies therein which, in my opinion, are both verbal and visual.
That is that. Let me not get in to theory here, hated as much as intellectualism currently. Ah, yes, these days the sibling of memes, that is, stickers rule the social media empire. Even then, the fascination for memes is yet not over though.
An example or two to prove my point. We all know the sad saga of the reportage of Dharmendra's 'demise'. It must be hurtful to his immediate family. For the netizens though, it was time to freak out.
One meme had the typical 'Garam Dharam' grimace and lingo, namely, "Kutton! Zinda hun. TRP ke chakkar pe muze hr ghante marwana band kro" which can loosely be translated as "Curs! I am alive and kickin. Stop murdering me by the hour for the sake of the TRP"!
The one that did the most rounds was that famous " tank" scene from " Sholay" with the equally well-known caption " Gaw walon, marna cancelled!" which can loosely be translated as " Hey, folks! I have cancelled (my resolve) to die!" In the foreground is a pic of an aged Dharmendra.
These are witty takes in a way on that impossible situation. Really 'wicked' was the sense of humour of a video. It showed an equally aged Jitendra who suffered a fall in some other function. It was an absolutely crappy crop which collated both these unfortunate events with a giggly "Dharam paaji ke chakkar me/aj Jitendra paji chale jate" which can be roughly translated as "all that hullaballo over Bro Dharam today would have claimed Bro Jitendra."
Nutty, nasty, notorious. Thank goodness, I have not as yet seen the "Dharam paaji ki tarikh pe tarikh!" Hema Malini would drag the person to court, I suppose! Hey, like every other person under the sun, I, too, dearly love a laugh. I am not being a spoilsport. Yet in my scheme of things, silly, cheap laughter, especially at something as grim as imminent death cannot be a grin! Amen!
Pratima@A titter cannot tatter decency, right? A smile is at least a mile away from cruelty, meanness, and downright goofy madness!
Quote of the day: "Humour is the best way," maintains Mary Ann Shaffer, "to make the unbearable bearable."
Word of the day: frivolous. 'Frivolous' means without much sense or seriousness, rather silly. The memes at the cost of Dharmendra's 'declared' demise are absolutely frivolous.
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