Extra Ordinary is a stand-up show about languages and catching up with the modern world

“When a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison,” goes the famous quote by Alphonse Daudet in one of his literary works. This holds true, especially in India, where we have close to 19,500 languages and dialects spoken.

While holding on to our language is increasingly important for us to preserve our culture, the post-colonial effect still precedes, forcing us to keep English on a pedestal. We conform to this trend to keep up with globalisation and to stay relevant. This leads us to dabble between multiple languages, often missing out on the raw essence of our thought. Stand-up artiste Manoj Prabakar comes to Hyderabad with his show  Extra Ordinary, talking about his journey with learning English.

Manoj Prabakar's Extra Ordinary, a show about language

As a native Tamil speaker, the show is about his struggles to learn English, and what he has gained and lost in the process. It touches upon how the language is dynamic and evolving, how it helped him get a job, the music he would listen to just to learn the language, and how all this helped him “catch up with modernities”.

Manoj also reflects if it is rather important to ‘catch up’ and how this might affect one’s core identity. “We are in a world that is constantly evolving and changing. Although it is essential to keep yourself updated and adapt to your surroundings, you do not need to know everything because what you learn now is going to change in a few years anyway,” Manoj explains.

An amalgamation of his thoughts and observations, the title  Extra Ordinary  is a reflection of himself, “an ordinary man with not so ordinary thoughts. ”There is also a segment where Manoj talks about his experiences in translating his thoughts from Tamil to English to write content for the show. He says that every culture is different, and the corresponding language encapsulates the essence of only that culture, hence translation often loses the experiential aspect of it. “For example, you can’t talk about being ‘woke’ in a regional language. It would not be impactful,” he explains.

Initially, Manoj would translate every thought to English, but after many years of experience, “it has been developed like muscle memory. I have trained myself to think in English,” he says. Manoj also informs us that he is all set to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August as the first South Indian to do a month-long solo run. He says that India has a lot of potential in the stand-up scene, as there is a huge untapped audience. “There are still thousands of people who haven’t experienced a live comedy show, and that gives a lot of space for comedians to do something new,” he concludes.

Tickets at `499. June 29, 4.15 pm.

At Aaromale Café and Creative

community, Jubilee Hills.

Email:  ananyadeval.m@newindianexpress.com

X: @indulgexpress

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