Comment Critically on Kaiser Haq's  use of humor and irony in his poem "Ode to a Lungi".

the poem “Ode on the Lungi”, written by one of the Bangladeshi noted writers Kaiser Haq, professor emeritus, University of Dhaka, is a masterpiece of humour and irony. With the sense of humour and irony, he focuses on the themes of the colonialism, orientalism and cultural hegemony that are reflected in the poem. The  contemporary  world  is  witnessing  renewed  attempts  by  the  writers especially  from  the  former  colonies  to  address  the  issues  of  marginality, subalternity,  hegemony,  identity  and  existential  crises  and  social  exclusion caused  by  a  fragmented  postcolonial world. The poem "Ode  on  the  Lungi" by  Kaiser Haq is an  attempt  to  negotiate  these burning  issues  through irony and humours which is discussed critically in reference to the text.

In every section, every line the senses of humour and irony profusely ooze out. The speaker of the poem acts as the mouthpiece for social, political and most importantly for cultural equality around the world. What the poet wants to asserts through the speaker of the poem is that every culture is beautiful and superior in itself. Therefore, no culture should be looked down upon the other. The culture is a matter of pride and no one should be ashamed of to uphold their culture. The speaker of the poem seems to have understood the mindset of a growing number of Bangladeshi people living home and abroad who are caught into the web of cross-culture, who even feel ashamed of upholding their culture and feel inferior to the culture of others, mostly to the western people. Therefore these people with such mentality try to adopt the culture of the west by forgetting their own culture which is projected through the cultural cloth-piece of Lungi ironically and humoursly.

Ironically, he brings out the notion of wearing coat and tie, which represent a person educated, elite and gentle as though others who wear lungi and jama are not cultured and educated. In office, big institutions and meeting people are ought to wear coat, tie and formal shoe.  Anybody who wears clean lungi and decent shirt is not allowed to enter any meeting. Even for the formal gathering, people are asked to come with formal dress on. And he ironically states,

"let us organise lungi parties and lungi    parades".

Actually coat, tie and shoe were not our way of dressing. It is imposed on us. The notion of this type is nothing but a gender biased and colonized mindset in Bangladesh.

The speaker speaks to Grandpa Walt and shares his thought about the culture of Lungi, a dress worn by millions of people around the world. He feels how the dress Lungi is looked down upon as dress of the uncivilized people. Once again this ‘uncivilized’ connotes the eastern world; mainly the South Asian region and the continent of Africa whose culture considered to be the backward one in the eyes of the west. Both of these regions are considered to the oriental world while they themselves are the occidental. (“Orientalism” by Edward Syed)

The speaker throws hard criticism to the democracy of the west mainly to the so-called largest and protector of democracy of the world that is the United States of America. The speaker criticizes the hypocritical democracy of the America for they are the ones who talk about equality/equal right but in reality the scenario is totally upside down. They will surely not deny that “all clothes have equal rights” but in practice they are the ones who create discrimination and our Lungi is the victim of their unjust treatment. This a harsh irony. They never ever accept Lungi as one of the culturally superior dresses as they do with Jacket and tie. Their attitude towards Lungi is that of a “ridiculous ethnic attire”. Therefore the port says,

"..the UN Chief will wear a lungi

                 and address the world".

The age of imperialism is gone but the era of neo-imperialism has begun and unfortunately many of us are the victims of this neo-imperialism. The speakers rightly says that even we ourselves look down upon our culture and feel proud by adopting the culture of the others mainly the western culture, for example, we feel shy to wear Lungi but on the other hand we feel proud in suit and tie. The speaker harshly criticizes such attitudes of the people and in order to propagate Lungi he himself wishes to be the 'Lungi activist' and to introduce an 'International Lungi Day', a sense of humour but creates a great impact on the life of people.

The speaker simply glorifies humorously the dress Lungi. It is indeed a fascinating dress and he talks about the multiple uses of Lungi saying: it can be used at various times and in various ways; it can be used in game, in swimming, Arab style headgear in the hot sun, in the time of romance and even it can be used as a flag. The speaker glorifies Lungi and asserts that we should not be ashamed of wearing Lungi because it is our cultural identity which we should uphold and show to the world with pride that is our fascinating cultural dress.

The reason behind writing an “Ode on the Lungi” is multiple. He realized that people getting caught up into the web of a mixed culture composed of western and eastern both. It is not only that but also gradually people are developing a greater interest in the culture and dresses of the west while forgetting their own. Therefore, the poet seems to be deeply worried and concerned about our culture so that it may not turn to extinction. The poet is also aware of the contemporary hypocritical motto of the world, which is the equality of all people and nations, headed by the powerful nations. He observes that the powerful nations speak of equality but under the carpet they are the ones supporting and, in fact practicing inequality. The poet sees this is a problem of the world now, and he is courageous enough to finger-point this issue through his poem ironically and humoursly:

"I AM A LUNGI ACTIVIST!

          Friends and fellow lungi lovers,

       let us organise lungi parties and lungi parades,

    let us lobby Hallmark and Archies

    to introduce an international Lungi Day when the UN Chief will wear a lungi

         and address the world" (83-89).

It is interesting to note here that the people of Dhaka, mostly young men clad in variety of  lungis actually  organised  a lungi parade  as a protest against  the diktat  of  Baridhara  Society,  a  posh  area in  Dhaka  among  others  such  as Gulshan    and    Bonani.  (Subaltern speaks: a theoretical analysis of kaiserhaq’sodeon thelungi by kafeel  ahmed choudhury)

 

In conclusion it can be said that the poem is not only a poem to be enjoyed for its humorous aspects but to be internalized, for it serves as the slogan for cultural and political equality ironically in the world today. It also works as the motivator in clinging to our culture and tradition which ultimately define our identity as Bangladeshi. The poem also inspires us to be rightly courageous and to establish equality, and to be respectful to our culture rather than feeling shy to uphold our culture.