wow. wonderful. i was always hoping for some1 in our freternity to take up stand up seriously for a profession. not only is it fullfilling for the performer, but it is also an excelant way of reaching out to huge numbers within a very short time. there's a lot we can achieve with this profession, and i think more people who believe they have the nack must surely go out there and give it a shot. in whichever part of the country they belong. i wonder if this person is anywhere on youtube. i shall surely chek him out. thanx for this news.
On 10/27/13, Shiv <[email protected]> wrote: > Making light of dark stuff > Sharmila Ganesan Ram, > TNNOct 20, 2013, 05.34AM IST > > 'I am a Kannadiga from Bangalore," Sundeep Rao tells an audience full of > Tamilians in Coimbatore. Then he bends over and makes a show of hiding his > bottle > of water from the room. Even though Rao's left hand takes a second longer to > find the bottle, the Cauvery crisis reference works instantly, laughter > fills > the delay and no one notices the Kannadiga's real problem. Bullet dodged. > > Rao is a partially blind standup comedian who loves bragging that he can > joke about sex in front of his mother because "I can't see her". She started > becoming > blurry when he was eight. At that age, he was diagnosed with juvenile > macular degeneration - a condition that damaged his retina and rendered him > with > only partial eyesight in both eyes. Rao now has only peripheral vision so he > cannot see faces or read books. For him, crossing the road, climbing up the > stairs, walking down the road to buy a cigarette are all forms of extreme > sport. "It is the longest relationship I have been in," says Rao, now 30, > referring > to his eyesight that has been diminishing over the last 23 years. > > Before every show, his mind is a battleground. What if I trip on the stairs? > What if I can't find the mike plug on time? Where exactly is the bottle of > water placed? What if I mistake a boy in the front row for a girl? Will I > become the joke? But he wins over these internal demons and gets on stage > anyway, > because, here, his misery is material. "Standup is as much therapy for me as > it is a profession," says Rao, who recently performed his first-ever solo > show called Out of Sight, where he establishes right at the beginning that > he is partially blind. > > The show is an amalgam of his personal wounds that turned into jokes on > healing. Since Rao does not carry a cane or wear thick, dark glasses, > Indians refuse > to believe that he has an impairment. When he tells them he is visually > impaired, they ask him, "But where's your cane?" "Indians see disability as > either > black or white. They don't understand partial blindness," Rao says. Once, > during an airport check-in, he told the lady at the counter that he would > need > assistance as he is partially blind. She asked him if he would like a > wheelchair. "I let them soak in till they become funny," he says, about > these dollops > of entertainment that have found their way into his confessional show. > However, it took almost two years to get here. > > When he started out as a standup in 2011, this former IT company copywriter > preferred to hide behind general jokes - the banal abbreviations in the > technical > mails he used to proofread, lame jokes of colleagues about his glorified > desk job, how the Welsh accent makes even the Indian accent sound posh and > why > singer Bono should use Google (a reference to U2's song I can't find what > I'm looking for). He would then, suddenly, launch into jokes about > blindness > but the transition was awkward. "Nobody would laugh when I did jokes about > blindness. They could not get why a person without flaws was making fun of > the > visually impaired," says Rao. > > Today, his voice is more authentic. Rao - who has performed everywhere from > a middle-aged lady's garage ("they were probably expecting a stripper") to > corporate events - has lost many of his inhibitions. "I don't feel > self-conscious asking for assistance anymore." He does not feel the need to > memorize > the seating order of girls and boys in the front row and when people ask him > about his absent cane, he has learnt to say, "I don't have it because I > can't > find it." > > Besides, Rao, who says he is in a happy relationship now, does not shy away > from discussing the dangers of dating as a partially blind person such as > waking > up to find a guy in his bed the morning after. Even in front of his mother. > > Source: > http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-10-20/stoi/43219823_1_jokes-blindness-sundeep-rao > > Regards, > > Shiv > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of > mobile phones / Tabs on: > http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > To unsubscribe send a message to > [email protected] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
