Mark of Respect

Today's 'national mourning' on the death of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee drew us into a piquant situation: Should we or should we not dispense with the laughter exercises?
The question hinged on Mohar Singh informing us that as a mark of respect to the departed soul, his group did not perform the laughter round this morning.

Should we... or should we not?

Clearly, the suggestion was that we too must follow suit.
When this was brought to the notice of Yusuf Rassiwala, Banoo Apa and Dilip Babani, two questions came to the fore. One, do laughter exercises amount to disrespecting the dead? And two, when was the last time we curtailed our exercises upon the death of a political figure?
On balance though, this is a non-issue. Suspending our laughter for a day makes no difference to anybody. We have done so countless times in the past -- upon the passing of a member or whenever there’s been bereavement in someone’s family. But that is purely out of the emotional connect we share collectively. As Banoo Apa put it, “The feeling comes from within.”
Now, stretching this to a political personality, whatever be his/ her stature, amounts to setting a precedent that will be hard to handle. After all, no politician is ever above controversy and no one ever wants to get caught in a political crossfire between admirers and critics.
As for persisting with our laughter routine, it was unanimously held that the intent is not to disrespect the deceased.