From the balcony of existence: an untaken interview

Rarely yes

Laughing at yourself is the hardest part, but people who can laugh at themselves are more likely to be good comedians. The famous American writer Henry Wheeler Shaw attaches great importance to laughing at himself, he has written, 'To laugh at oneself is the highest form of humor.' In Gujarati humor, starting from Jyotindra Dave till today, comic writers have written many comic articles about laughing at themselves, because a man who can laugh at himself is the height of his humility, sometimes even transparency seems thick. Jyotindra Dave used to talk a lot about his physical health, Vinod Bhatt used to make Gujarati comedians laugh by talking about his academic career. This came to mind today as I came across a lengthy interview with a shy comedian. Sudirgh means longer than you might have heard….! But the feature of its length is that you will not get bored reading or listening to it. Because this interview is of our very popular comic writer Ratilal Borisagar Sahib. There is a book and it is called, 'An Untaken Interview…' The special feature of this book is that both the interviewee and the interviewee are the author himself. He is as much a popular humorist as he is a student-loving teacher and a service-minded noble human being. Perhaps because of his love of education, everyone knows him by the nickname 'Borisagar Sahib'. According to his nature, Borisagar sahib does not write his autobiography and he does not like it if he is praised, so he has taken this middle path and has given this good story to the Gujarati audience. Interviewing is more like a case study for a journalism student than a masters. He has asked questions so skillfully. This neutrality with himself reveals his high level of artistic understanding and spirituality. A true teacher has a sense of self-examination. The innate knack of turning it into pure laughter shines through the pages of this book. Vinod Bhatt says, 'Bori Sagar is very knowledgeable about comedy. Although Bharatamuni said that moolaras is beauty, while laughter is its by-product, but Ratibhai preserves laughter as very sacred.' This is likely to be the first such comic book based on his own interviews. Many a times the interview gets crushed under the weight of the interviewer's likes and dislikes, sometimes if the right questions are not asked, the whole thing can go wrong! By being experimental (or self-reliant) in this regard, Borisagar Sahib has done comic literature admirable service. He has spoken about himself in a manner befitting a pious teacher like Borisagar Sahib when there is not a neck-to-neck but neck-to-neck competition going on in social media. Borisagar Sahib's specialty is his openness. He lives in Ahmedabad's Ratilal Park, there are many rumors about him. It is said that Mukesh Ambani does not live in Mukesh Ambani Colony or Gautam Adani in Gautam Adani Colony but lives in our Ratilal Borisagar Ratilal Park. He was very proud of this subject at first but then the incident of a rickshaw puller happened and the rickshaw puller said that the name of a society must have come from such a man named 'Ratilal'..!!! Since then, he has become disillusioned. In his early years as a writer, when he did not have the success he wanted in writing short stories and then publishing them, he came to the conclusion that perhaps magazine editors were not giving him the support he needed, leading him to laugh. Had to turn. Here the interviewer (himself) asks a question 'Don't you regret that many people don't know you?' Then, in a very Borisagari style, he says 'It used to happen but once I went to an office and introduced myself to my clerk that I am a famous comic writer of Gujarati literature like Jyotindra Dave.' So the clerk looked up and asked me, 'Who is this Jyotindra Dave?' However, one remembers the exemplary fact that they do not like it if something is important to them in their personal life. A trust in the name of this beloved teacher in Savarkundla got a lot of donations, all the ex-students wanted to name it as Borisagar Vidyaguru Trust, when Borisagar Saheb removed 'Borisagar' from it and simply wrote the name Vidyasagar Trust. Usually, the writer is interviewed only when he gets a big prize, i.e. Jnanpith. Also, since the interview fits into a very small part of the print, it ends in two or three questions, so seeing such a long interview of the author after a long time (or maybe for the first time) is an auspicious literary event…