Satish Shah, comedic star of the 1980s and 2000s, did a star turn this week when he shared a racist comment he overheard at London‘s Heathrow Airport and his response to it. The Shah of Guffaws was apparently boarding his flight when an airport staff asked his colleague how ‘they’ – the Shah family – could ‘afford first class’ on which ‘they’ were travelling. Social media loved the actor’s response ‘with a smile’, ‘Because we are Indians’. That ‘hum Hindustani!’ made the inner Manoj Kumars in IoSMs (Indians on social media) fill up with pride – for a terrific comeback that’s straight out of Jaane Mat Do Yaaro.
But (and we always have a but ready in our pocket, don’t we?) while many lauded Shah for his perfect punchline against what is a racism-classism cocktail – that it’s so incredulous that Indians can afford first-class tickets on an international flight – perhaps we need a Shahenshah to stand up against pure classists whether at home or abroad. Like coming up with a solid riposte to, say, signs at clubs and housing societies such as ‘Drivers, ayahs, servants not allowed in the swimming pool area,’ or the suspicious look people who don’t look mall-sy get when they enter malls, or when people at a gathering stare at a guest whose English isn’t quite propah. We’re working on a punchline and hope to share it soon.
