BOOK WATCH
Punch-packed
ANITA JOSHUA
The Avadh Punch: Wit and Humour in Colonial North India, Mushirul Hasan, Niyogi Books, Rs. 795.
At a time when even humour has to be politically correct, historian Mushirul Hasan takes upon himself the task of reminding present-day society that it was not always so. In particular, he zeroes in on the Urdu medium. And, with good reason. For, while most people are familiar with Birbal’s satire and the wit and humour of Panchatantra and Jataka tales, few know that the Urdu media in colonial days packed in a “punch”.
Indeed, for nearly 60 years — beginning January 16, 1877 — Lucknow had a weekly titled The Avadh Punch that drew inspiration from the London Punch. According to Hasan, it was the first Indian newspaper to publish cartoons as they are known today, and it provided a platform for some of the greatest comic writers in Urdu literature.
So fast did cartooning gain currency in India that by the turn of the century, there was at least 70 Punch incarnates being published from across the country. Not only did they bring comic relief in otherwise trying times, they also provided a window into the minds of the people; not just for the rulers but also the leadership of the freedom struggle.
Besides reproducing several cartoons published in The Avadh Punch along with the commentary of Archibald Constable — the first to introduce lampooning in the Urdu medium to English-speaking readers — Hasan examines the evolution of political satire in the early part of the century gone by. The book also offers a selection of writings by Wilayat Ali “Bambooque”, who, though practically unsung, triggered debate through piercing queries packed in the form of witty jibes.
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