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Bernard's Bombay Dream
Dream or nightmare?
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M Remus
27th June 03
I saw the program on Bernard Manning In India tonight. I liked
it somewhat because it showed Bernard for what he was: A bigot
who is nothing without his microphone. He always said: "If
you don't have the microphone, then you are nothing on the stage".
That is to say that you are not in control unless you have (or
grab) the microphone. He could always put people in their place
when he had the microphone while they didn't. On the program
tonight, the microphone malfunctioned and proved the point that
Bernard can seem like a nobody and essentially he isn't much
different from any English bigot.
Having said that, there's no doubt that he still has the quick
wit and is still quite funny, if you try to ignore the fact
that he is a true racist with the old colonial views. On the
whole I don't like him and I would just treat him as the court
jester and cut his head off so to speak (ignore him) when he
is no longer funny or when i've had enough of him.
Many of the polite Indian people in the club know that the English
really messed their country up, but they still treated him with
respect. Bernard was obviously so full of resentment and never
handled the situation well at all.
He should have just put the microphone down and raised his voice
a bit. The people in the club might not get all the nuances
and jokes, but they tried their best and even put up with the
foul language. They were not the heckler types, so he didn't
really need the microphone to be in control. It was not really
a big place.
He couldn't accept it when some of his jokes went amiss. A lot
of his jokes are geared at working class British, so what do
you expect and there are so many phrases that posh Indians will
never grasp. I think it is a fitting end to somebody who tried
so hard to put down the Indian people. Before the documentary
started, I thought that this might be Bernard turning a new
leaf. But alas; he was obviously trying to prove his t views.
These so called "mild arm-chair bigots" (and he is
one of them, too) are actually worse than extreme racists, because
people listen to them, whether it is at home or in a pub. He
is not really a nice person - he never let that intelligent
woman in the taxi have her say. He controlled the whole conversation.
If his jokes are racist, he says, then they are still only jokes.
Ok? - But he often aired his opinion outside of his humour and
it was quite clear what he thought of Indians. Sometimes you
have to be serious and Bernard did say his opinion in a serious
way and we could tell what he really believed. That is, he thinks
that Indians are inferior to the English and he said that we
(the English) should come back to tell them how to build some
more great buildings again. But what about the Elephanta Caves
and the Taj Mahal?!
He had nothing good to say about India and often talked about
how much better England was. It was quite shocking and pathetic
to hear him talk seriously.
It is just another example of how good channel 4 is at revealing
the truth.
My opinion of Bernard is much clearer now and it is not a good
opinion.
There was much controversy as to whether Bernard was really
racist and even people think that he is "OK"; but
there is no doubt in my mind that he is a racist. Although,
it took this program to really drive it home to me. I could
just imagine being in that taxi with him and knowing that he
would never really accept my view that I am English, even when
I tell him I have an English mother. The fact that I have an
Indian father (now Canadian) would just mean that I wasn't English
as far as he was concerned.
The English are a real mix of all kinds of different peoples
and the recent influxes are a kind of phenomena that was going
on in England for many many centuries. I hope that somebody
reads this comment. It had to be long to prove a point. Some
things just can't be brief.
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Dr. Srinivas Singaram
27th June 03
I was horrified to see this programme and immediately wanted
to air my opinion. How can a person be so stupid to judge a
country, its people and its culture in his short trip? It was
a pity to see a person of his stature to behave like a child
where his jokes are not enjoyed by the people with entirely
differnt culture. As the saying goes an Indian is second best
english speaking person. It is ridiculous to say that they dont
speak good English, the English spoken by English speaking Indians
is learned in colleges and universitities. Though they form
the minority of the population. Is Mr. Manning's English is
good E nglish? Listening to him with all his F words was an
unbearable experience throughout the programme. There can be
only one explanation, he has gone senile and could not digest
the truth that he is well past his sell by date. In India where
cricket is the way of life, trying to crack a joke about Manchester
United and its never heard star (David Beckham) is the height
of stupidity. As an Indian I was deeply hurt by his behaviour
and carelessness of Channel 4 to telecast such a programme which
is denigrating a culture of a great country.
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Ridhima Patel
16th June 03
Having just finished watching the documentary, Bernard's Bombay
Dream, I immediately sat down at the computer to express my
feelings of disgust and outrage that such an 'experiment' should
have been performed. Controversary is all well and good, and
often makes life exciting, but in this case, was totally inappropriate.
As a young British Indian, I find it highly insulting that Channel
4 had the audacity to send such a blatant racist and incredibly
ignorant man into the finest hotels and clubs of Bombay as a
source of amusement to the British public. By all means, send
a comedian into India, let him do his stuff - for Indians welcome
influences from other cultures - but the next time, please at
least try to make a better choice. Someone who is actually funny
would be a start and another asset would be less of a fondness
for obscene language. I think we are all aware of Mr Manning's
favourite word by now - indeed, one wonders whether he chants
it to get to sleep at night. However, despite my many criticisms
of this programme, I did at times find myself laughing, though
this was more out of pity for this comedian than at his jokes.
One significantly amusing point,that calms my indignance slightly,
is that, though Mr Manning expressed again and again that it
would be so much easier if we all spoke English, ironically,
most of the Indians filmed seemed to have a broader vocabulary
than him. Being stared out of a room filled with non-smiling
faces was just what he deserved. I only wish Channel 4 had made
clearer their view of him and their reasons for screening him
for one hour- as a main television channel, they should have
expressed clearly their disapproval of his behaviour and views.
Thank God the journalist showed less reluctance, and for this,
I admire her - standing up to such a man requires courage, which
I felt Channel 4 also ought to have shown. I'm sure I have ranted
enough now. In my closing remarks to you I would just like to
say that as a Cambridge medical student, with a perfect command
of the English language, I feel that television channels such
as Channel 4, shown to millions across the UK, have a responsibility
to make clear that the attitude shown by Mr Manning is inappropriate
and rude. After all, at the end of the day, this 'comedian'
and the crew filming him were guests in India. They should not
have insulted their gracious hosts by subjecting them to such
treatement as was shown. Channel 4 has shown a lack of respect
for India and its people by carrying out this trial and this
is not acceptable. India may once have been the playground of
the British but things changed a long time ago. Perhaps then
these comments will serve to remind those responsible for this
programme of that fact.
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Dr. Gupta Gaurav
26th June 03
I want to put accross to you my disappoitment and disgust as
clearly as possible on what Mr. Bernard had to say about India
and its People. It is shameful and surprising that a channel
like yours would air such a programme, which was clearly racist
and demeaning to a particular country and its people. It becomes
all the more disgusting in the light that your channel is free
to air and the viewers exposed to your broadcasts haven't expressely
chosen the type of content that's dished out to them. Its shocking
that at the end of the programme your channel didn't even have
the decency to announce that Mr. Bernard's views were his own
and not subscribed to by your channel. The man, definitely at
the end of his career, went to the extent of calling India a
scrapyard. If thats the point of view your channel subscribes
to then i am extremely surprised and disappointed. I would also
like to sympathise with you because this programme shows the
extent of your ignorance and intellectual bankruptcy. I hope
that you will not subject our country and our people to this
kind of disgusting and shameful views in future.
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