the gnarled beauty of absurdism in literature

when ink comes to life

From the “khatarkhun khatarkhun dil” in Rosesh Sarabhai’s queer poetry to Ye’s quintessentially off-the-wall “Closed on Sunday, you my Chick-fil-A”, many often overlook the implicit meaning wrapped in kookiness.

emotions, feelings, ideas. Wrapped and presented in the multiple forms of humour, from the crudest non-veg jokes, comical contrasts to lighthearted laughs. Sometimes the over-the-top rib-ticklers tend to tickle much more than your funny bone. Absurd comparisons, as fantastical as they often elicit an amusing realization, mocking all forms of detailed analysis.

One archetypal example is Monty Python’s The Holy Grail. The black knight’s ‘I can still bleed on you!’ [despite having both his arms and legs cut off] seems irrational until one accepts it. Irrationally rational. By nonsensical manifestations and juxtaposition, characters often express their mind. Cathartic humour.

Kachcha kela is yet another example of such a satirical poet, by comparing his life to non-living objects, piecing together non-sensible rhymes.

“…Meri naak to jaise kauwe ki chonch (My nose like a crow’s beak) Mere baal jangli ghaas…”  (My hair like wild grass)

These peculiar depreciating comparsions are often humorous in an ironical sense, yet they manage to evoke a tinge of sympathy and delve into the writers’ mind. It is amazing how absurdism is highly disconnected, yet one can join the dots to fathom it.