[Reader-list] Chour ( idiot ) and Maskhara ( joker )

[Inder Salim]

Chour means idiot in Kashmir. Chour has a given lack of common sense ,
and because of that he becomes butt of jokes in society. A chour is
always different from other chour, but there are degrees of charer (
stupidity ) which enables ‘ us’ to function  (performativity)  more
interestingly, and automatically renders a chour lovable to all. .
Paradoxically, it is  perhaps this ‘ charaer’ ( stupidity ) which
sometimes gives us great insight about the exact nature of  ‘self’.  I
have personally a long list of ‘ charer’ in my life, and still there
is no end to the stupid things I do. May I dare to say, that every
person in the world is a chour ( idiot ) to some extent, wittingly or
unwittingly.

On the other hand we have a word ‘Maskhar’ means banter or  clown or
even Bhands to some extent. Maskhars often find inspiration from a
chour in society, which is full of them at any given point of time.
So, maskhara actually is spokesperson of chear ( idiots),  But a chour
and a maskhara are finally two sides of the same coin, or say first
cousins.

In Kashmir people say, “ when a maskhara dies, people  refuse to
believe, because he may be acting ‘ dead’, who knows”

I like ‘Maskharil. The act of maskhar in itself. Though I would like
to be a serious maskhar , in life, but it is not easy, we know.

The English equivalent for maskhara is queer, or even pervert, because
he is given to natural speech, in daily life.. Danger of mediocrity
plaguing us is much more in written speech, but a maskhara is known
for his ability to deliver himself through natural speech..

Professionally or in life even, I see a Maskhara doing well, but not
much in comparison to a Hero, who fights the villain, and bags the
fairest of all : the heroine (see bollywood ). The side  heroine goes
to Maskhara or chour. But that is how unfortunately we are trained,
but we better know the value of an idiot in any given situation. Read
Hamlet, they are simply indispensable if one goes by the practice, not
theory.

“What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in
faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action
how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this
quintessence of dust? Man delights not me; no, nor woman neither,
though by your smiling you seem to say so." -Hamlet

Poets are born Maskharas, unless they are put on a regular dose of
tragedies, which turn them melancholic. But the poem itself is
Funoon-e-latifa. ( arts and crafts ). This charer comes out in the
detail of each poem.  And that contains all; “ wherever I go , I see a
poet has been before” said Freud.

There has to be a storey at hand at every turn of the event. Some
imagination, some fun, some teasers, some acute pointers,
singularities, ripping the core, perpetually. We too may notice that
there is a core in each one of us, hence, ‘mazak’ ( joke)  of the
‘self’ ( taken seriously ) becomes essential. All the jokes we know
reside at the periphery., and there at the periphery we have space for
every thing, say dancing, singing, jumping, and also lot of stupidity,
wittingly or unwittingly. Here, I would not like to be reminded about
the “binary opposition” obstructing the opening of further spaces.
Better we bring in some radical thought, to rip, but smilingly.

 Life is about sensibilities, not some grand philosophy of the
core/structure, but about freedom, and see how a tree grows,
inheriting all the stages of a chour(idiot ).

The ordinary,  therefore, has  many reasons to look more legible, than
an isolated intellectuals. ( ideologues ) at the core. These
intellectuals ( which includes our IAS babus/religious zealots and
corporate thinkers etc ) who manage the affairs in the name of
development, become winged monster, represented by a seated figure in
the Mandala..

Ordinary People become nuts and bolts of that system, or simply oil
and  texture to run the machine effectively,  Foucault’s explanation
of Panopticism sit perfect. We are all therefore trapped, not inside
the machine, but we all the machine itself.  A chour perhaps knows the
way out, without bothering about the key.

Naturally, the thing(s) at the core, the privileged would automatically resist.

A Maskhara on the periphery is careless about the machine, and even
takes some conscious steps to break it radically. which is often
brushed aside as aberration, by the clean collared Core
representative/practitioner. This Maskhara on the other hand laughs at
his vanities and cruelties,  and  actually fails to understand his
sadistic way of living.

So, a simple life charms him, and so many good qualities are innately
embedded in him, . A good maskhara never cares about patenting of any
intellectual properties as qualities inside him, which usually come to
a man through rigorous educational system. He scores in society
because of his intrinsic love for all, and his tendency to laugh at
every thing.

The voice amplifier in the hands of  man at helm/core complicates it
further, rather such conglomeration of cores have come to shape
because of a history of  sequel of scandalous appropriation of such
mechanisms. History shows us how much energy we need to counter such
cores/ hierarchies.  The razor edged core naturally rips, as
consequences of any such attempt against it: so we have bloodsheds in
each ‘deconstruction’. This chour  often becomes the cannon fodder in
any conflict, since he  loves to expose himself in any situation. He
has no tools to recognize fear , as we most of us are conscious about.
.

A chour is not Bechour, ( victim in kashmiri ) A Mashkara is not
indifferent to others suffering, but instinctively knows the futility
of being sentimental beyond a point.

love
is

-- 

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