Confessions and reflections

Laughter is the best medicine or so it is said. But if this laughter comes at the cost of ridiculing someone, how can it be medicinal? I have often heard quite a few people say that they are in splits when they watch 'Comedy Nights with Kapil'. I agree that there is some wit and pun in it. But some parts are dehumanising as well. There have been some episodes on the show which have brought up the issues of sex selective abortions, sexual harassment of women and these have conveyed the message that women are humans. But does that also mean that you dehumanise them? What bothers me is the constant threads of characters like the wife, grandmother, aunt and the much loved Gutthi and Palak.   Why are they dehumanising? Because they are constantly ridiculed. For example, if we consider the treatment of the wife, why is she and her natal family members always the butt of jokes? If this was happening to some of us in our private or social lives, we would definitely call