 "The woman who got into an 'unfunny' situation")
During a recent show in Gurgaon, stand-up comic Vasu Primlani had her audience of children and their parents in splits, while also telling them about gender equality and body image.
Primlani’s impersonation of bad boy Tinda Badal, full of attitude and one-liners, is likely to draw a smile or two from even the most sombre person around, but the year has been rather unfunny for the comic performing the character.
Accused of fraud by Karnataka-based green activist Saalumarada Thimmakka in 2014, Primlani found herself in a sticky spot when she was held at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in July last year while she was on her way to Kathmandu. Her US passport — she is an overseas citizen of India — was impounded and she was held for 10 days in Bengaluru jail, till her lawyers could obtain bail.
“I was put in a cell with five women convicted of murder,” she recalls. “No phone calls or letters were allowed.” In the course of her confinement, Primlani suffered from intense trauma and lost 10 kg.
What followed can only be described as bizarre — so much so that it is difficult to narrate the events using a coherent chronology.
In 1998, Primlani, who grew up in New Delhi and has a master’s degree in geography, urban planning and law from University of California, Los Angeles, founded Thimmakka’s Resources for Environmental Education. The name of the organisation was inspired by Saalumarada Thimmakka.
A native of the Hulikalai village in Karnataka’s Ramnagar district — about 56 km southwest of state capital Bengaluru — Thimmakka has earned recognition and honour for planting hundreds of trees in her village.
A mascot of sorts for reforestation and afforestation activists across India, Thimmakka claims to be more than 100 years old. Her trees are now managed by the Karnataka government and are valued at Rs 15 lakh.
Primlani and Thimmakka did not meet till 2003. On a trip to India, Primlani travelled to Thimmakka’s village to meet the woman she admired so much. She was accompanied by Marilyn H Mackel, a retired judge of the Los Angeles Supreme Court.
“It was from Primlani that we in the US learnt of Thimmakka,” said Mackel, in a statement. “When we reached her village, in February 2003, Thimmakka was very pleased to meet us. She showed us the road where she had planted and nurtured the trees, and later we had a meal at her home.
Primlani told Thimmakka that she wanted to honour her by naming the organisation after her and she readily gave Primlani her blessings.”
In the private complaint that Thimmakka filed with the magistrate and principle judge of Ramnagara, however, the aged environmentalist accused Primlani of fraud, copyright violation and property theft, under a bunch of Indian Penal Code sections.
On July 5, Primlani’s show at Alliance Française in Bengaluru was disrupted by policemen, who demanded that she surrender her passport and accompany them to the police station. But she refused, and her audience forced the police to leave since they apparently had no warrant.
Later that month, while on her way to Kathmandu, Primlani was held at the airport in New Delhi. She was taken to Bengaluru and incarcerated till she got her bail. Even when she was released on bail, her passport was impounded and she was not allowed to leave the country.
There was no response from the Karnataka police to emailed queries asking for clarification on the matter.
Primlani says she got anonymous calls from people who claimed to be Thimmakka’s representatives, demanding money to withdraw the case. “Even if these offers were earnest, I would never accept them,” she tells me.
Her conviction and courage finally bore fruit in October, when the Karnataka High Court quashed the case against her and ordered that her passport be returned to her immediately.
Now, Primlani, who is also an athlete, is preparing for a triathlon — and continues to be funny, something that even the most harrowing experience has not been able to steal from her.
