HAPPIMESS by Biswajit Banerji Group discussion in collaboration with Indiacafe24.com discussion
Group Discussion on Happimess
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HAPPIMESS achieves a seamless blend of humor and satire to narrate everyday life situations by employing a witty and irreverent approach to tackle social peculiarities. Through the first-person narration, the collection of naughty stories hooks readers into relatable scenarios and then playfully tangles them up into bizarre and comical predicaments. The stories take familiar situations and inject them with an amusingly disorderly twist, making the reader chuckle and shake their heads in disbelief.The humor is flippant and often pokes fun at the idiosyncrasies of human behavior, societal norms, and everyday interactions. It thrives on the unexpected and absurd, turning ordinary occurrences into hilarious misadventures. Readers can't help but laugh at the frantic efforts of the characters as they try to extricate themselves from the chaos, only to find that their attempts backfire, leading to even more messiness.
Satire is the glue that holds these stories together, casting a wide net over various aspects of life. Social norms, home appliances, insurance agents, hagglers, and even farewell speeches are not spared from the sharp and humorous critique. The collection uses satire to shine a light on the quirks and shortcomings of human behavior, often exaggerated for comedic effect. By doing so, it provides readers with a fresh perspective on everyday situations while also gently mocking the absurdity of certain societal conventions.
The net of satire that HAPPIMESS casts is not confined to a specific realm but spans across different aspects of daily life. This wide-ranging approach ensures that readers from various backgrounds can find something to relate to and laugh about, creating a sense of unity through shared laughter.
Overall, HAPPIMESS ingeniously weaves together humor and satire to narrate everyday life situations, offering a delightful and entertaining exploration of the funny disorderliness that lies beneath the surface of ordinary existence. The collection challenges conventional norms, encourages readers to laugh at themselves, and provides a refreshing escape through its comical take on the mundane aspects of life.
My answer to this question is, first of all, it is not an easy task to blend humour and satire. Most often, both words are considered the same, but there is a huge difference that seems small. And that huge difference is understood by the author. Secondly, I personally experience that writing short stories is really a big deal. I mean, it literally takes effort to elaborate on big things in a few words. Like in big novels, authors have options to explain characters, story, plot etc., but short stories demand keen attention with the same service. It becomes more challenging when the author is writing a humuor.Coming to the question's crux, In today's world, where everyone is looking for happiness, the author tried to make people to find it in little things through his book, Happimess. His approach is to make all the messy things happy. As far as I can assume, the title wants to convey that we must take every mess happily. The attitude of reacting happily to a messy thing is rare and plausible. The author did so.
If I talk about my life's everyday situations, I used to throw a joke at every serious situation. The people who are very close to me are very aware of this. They sometimes ask why you are behaving like that. Is this the right time for a joke? Why are you laughing in such a serious situation? And my answer all the time is, our reaction makes things easy. If I can make this situation a subject of humour, then why should I make it a hell for me? If I can handle situations by laughing, why should I cry? Look! This is my sense of humour. I am not taking it as a sub of satire but as my silly humour which makes things easy, at least for me.
The blend of humuor and satire narrated by the author in life situations is praiseworthy. I am glad to came across this book, it encouraged me to continue with my silly attitude. I think the prime cause of writing the book in first person is to mitigate the chaos of one's life through humuor by oneself. So that they get involved in the situations, experience them and see the effect through the author's perspective.
Mod
Very well said Simonti
Mod
I know your Humour filled jokes... as it actually makes one smile
When I first read the title I thought I was reading it wrong— instead of happiness I am reading it as happimess. It was natural because we always try to find happiness by sorting things out, so how can mess be happy?
But life is not always sorted —we create a mess, we become a mess.
The greatness of the stories of this book is that it will let you know that we all get trapped in life's tricky and awkward situations but how we are reacting to that is what matters.
Now let's get back to the question -
There is a difference between humour and satire. Humour is anything that causes laughter in our life and, on the other hand, satire is something which is made to show a point by making fun of something or someone.
Without these two, life would be so boring and dull. The author has done an excellent job of writing lives which are relevant to each of our lives by blending humor and satire.
While reading the stories, which are written from a first person perspective, there were many times when I thought - oh, this is how I should have reacted in my life too.
Maybe this was the goal of the author - let everyone find happimess in our lives.
Mod
Humor often arises from situations that are ironic or absurd. Thus, it can be said that paying attention to the oddities and contradictions in daily life can help individuals to approach life with a playful attitude. This is exactly what we see happening in this book as well, wherein the stories pick out humour and satire from situations or objects we handle every day.
For instance, WITH DUE RESPECT TO 'SELF-RESPECT', we see how the author has used satire to comment on the societal perceptions and expectations around elopement.
It also suggests that things which are typically seen as scandalous or unconventional, may actually serve a purpose that we don't fully recognize or appreciate.
Hence, we should remember that humor is subjective, and not everyone finds the same things funny, yet the book shows us how finding joy in the simple pleasures of life can lead us to discover it being found in the smallest of details.
Mod
Good to know about your opinion
Mod
Very well presented
It's like what really happens to us in everyday life and this becomes the factor on which every situation and emotion depends, whether it is a critical context or it is some ridiculous moment, all we have to respond accordingly.So the same is delineated in the book. Many occurrences to the protagonist occur, but the way he deals with them literally made me laugh when I read the events, go to hide his ferocity behind his derisive aspect and let that moment go after blaming them. Like one happening was when Das was in interview and he was baffled about what foot he had to place first.
Ain't it funny that someone is doing these silly acts during such a prominent moment? It was a satirical general happening.
One with electricity moment associated with a thief who is not a thief but the mistake of the Protagonist. The one with the bird poop. Kind of embarrassing but ridiculous.
So these kind of events happen in the book, which happen in daily life and, instead of handling them, the person can scoff the context of the impact of their actions. So we can say this book is the juxtapose of satire and humour to our daily life.
Mod
Loved your opinion about this concept
In my opinion the author has done an amazing job in masterfully blending humour and satire to weave entertaining tales that revolve around everyday life situations. The stories in "Happimess" start with seemingly ordinary scenarios, but as they unfold, they take unexpected and hilarious turns,which I found very praiseworthy. What I personally feel is the element of surprise and the unpredictable nature of the stories add to the overall comedic effect.Now coming to the Satire part, it actually plays a very crucial role in the book. By using satire, the author skillfully exposes the ridiculous and exaggerated aspects of familiar elements of everyday life. The stories which are being mentioned are all basic daily life situations which I always used to throw jokes at, like conspiring home appliances, outlandish diseases, nosy insurance agents, die-hard hagglers, or even a botched farewell speech. As I read the stories further I found that through satire, Bannerjeee effectively highlights the humorous side of these situations while subtly critiquing societal norms and behaviors.
Happimess - how else can this book connect humour and satire? The name itself makes the mess happy. Whether we like it or not, our lives are a mess and we have just two ways to deal with it - either you can whine about it the entire day or just laugh about it. The author selects the second one. When electronics decide to turn your day messy, you defeat it by making the day even massier. When you are hit by your wife, you can avoid being messy by just keeping quiet. Or when people are intolerably slow, we need to make some joke in the meantime. The author makes an interesting observation about how we attract things when we are trying to run away from them. The sarcasm is quite appropriately used in the book. The author is quite subtle about mixing these elements.
Mod
Impressive thought
Mod
Thanks for your opinion
Mod
so let the discussion begin
My answer to your question is Yes. Definitely. The writing style of the book showcases several paralles with other humorous and satirical work. Let me explain some of them to you all.First is as we can see the book has got an amazing blend of humor and satire. Similar to other works in the humor and satire genre,"Happimess" seamlessly combined humor and satire to create entertaining and thought provoking tales which allows the book to be both amusing and critical of societal norms.
Second one is the first person perspective showcased in the book by the author. The predominant use of a first person narrative style draws readers into the stories, creating a sense of intimacy and immediacy. This technique is commonly employed in humorous and satirical works, and I personally felt so much engaged with the story on a personal level.
Third is the unexpected twists that take place in the book. Like many other humorous stories the tales in Happimess begin with seemingly ordinary situation but take unexpected and hilarious turns. This element of surprise adds to the comedic effect,which I particularly loved the most about this book, as it proves to be a technique that aim to challenge societal norms and behaviour while providing amusements to the readers.
For me the writing style of this book is fun. The author wrote it in first person. The protagonist or we can say the author is narrating the story, so we get to know the direct perspective of the person and account of events which are pointed out in the story. The book is written mostly in explanatory form and casual dialogues are also included in the narrative. There is a wonderful use of satire and humor in the book. The author related the everyday activities with humoristic accounts. We can also see the connection with everyday humor. The situations we tend to avoid is the situation we end up attracting to ourselves is beautifully portrayed. As far as the parallels are concerned, the stories draw a parallel with our everyday thoughts. It is something which goes in our mind every day, but we just can’t put it out. This book can also be considered as a parallel to the famous Indian Show “Tarak Mehta ka Ulta Chashma” where we see Jethalal always being stuck with the most unusual problems and how the universe conspires to complicate things which wouldn’t be an issue otherwise. Overall it’s fun, light and humoristic read.
Ans:- In my point of view, writing style is perfect fit to the book . Even the font is really superb because it is so decent and it is easy for the readers to conceive the idea because of explicit words. As the sarcasm and humour is on the peak in this book so the use of exact words and idioms is used in every statement and events. It's quite a good work. Writing style is for those kind of readers who have good adept of reading in vocabs, idioms and phrasal verbs.
A person with poor choices of words can't read as perfectly because he/she has to check for the meaning everytime there is any idiom or humour to the statements. It's completely suitable to the plot. Use of narration and punctuation is also good. So overall it's good depiction.
The writing style in the book "Happimess" can be described as flippant, irreverent, and humorous. The stories are narrated in the first person, which allows the reader to connect more intimately with the characters' experiences and perspectives. The primary focus of the stories is to entertain and make readers laugh, achieved through poking fun at social peculiarities and creating tangled, messy situations out of everyday scenarios.The author's use of satire is a defining characteristic of the book's writing style. By casting a wide net of satire, the stories touch on various subjects such as conspiring home-appliances, outlandish diseases, nosy insurance agents, die-hard hagglers, and even a botched farewell speech. Through these elements, the book constantly presents a funny disorderliness that keeps the readers engaged and amused throughout.
and societal norms.
If I talk about language (English), the author has a good command. The usage of every sort of word (easy, medium, and difficult), phrases, and idioms at required places is plausible. Being a person who treats English as a skill and wants to be proficient in it, I consider myself a learner in English no matter how much I have learned. That's why I call this book a mastery.In terms of narration, this book is a well-narrated work. Since I feel that writing short stories is a challenging task, especially when done with humor, I found the narration impressive. From the strong portrayal of characters to the linkage of them with everyone's life is wonderful.
It becomes more beautiful with talking in the first person as it seems very personal. This way, the author has made it easier to experience the events on one's own level. They seem more personal and help the readers to comprehend them well.
The book has been written in a very unique way and the writing style of the author really impressed me a lot. It is written in first person— this feature of the book made it more interesting to the readers as we are not just reading the book but we are experiencing the stories narrated by the author. It is not easy to choose the perfect words while narrating humor. But author has shown the efficiency in that matter.
The way satire are used shows the experienced writing capability of the author.
While reading the story I could fit myself into the situations that have been discussed in the book because the Stories are very much relatable to our day-to-day life.
I really appreciate author's unique concept of writing this book and I really enjoyed every pages of it.
The book showcases a writing style that effortlessly weaves together humor, satire, and whimsical storytelling. The author's approach is light-hearted and playful, engaging readers with entertaining tales while cleverly critiquing and lampooning various societal oddities and everyday scenarios.
The book can be seen to derive its humor from an assortment of mischievous stories, all of them which are designed to evoke laughter.
We can see that by taking mundane situations and infusing them with unexpected twists, the narratives lead to humorous and surprising conclusions.
Much like authors Bhavik Sarkhedi and Suhana Bhambhani, this story embarks on a humorous journey centered around everyday individuals entangled in chaotic predicaments. All the authors skillfully employ wit and satire to explore the idiosyncrasies of human behavior and societal conventions.
The first question that we will discuss today about this book is
Q1 : How does HAPPIMESS blend humour and satire to narrate everyday life situations?
So friends share your opinion on this
So we are back again in discussion mode..... today's question for discussion is:
Q2: What about the writing style in the book and any parallels?
so let the discussion begin