Let me qualify by saying I’m overly critical of people trying to be funny for no good reason. Do we really need a reason to be funny?
I like Ved Maddison, 22, a very tall man with a high cuteness quotient, his humour is effortless, beguiling, charmingly disdainful. He’s funny for no reason, enjoying what he does makes him doubly funny. His mere presence is farcical. He’s intelligent, irreverent, has a keen eye—that seems lazy, intoxicated at times, though, I now know, he doesn’t take any intoxicating or psychotropic substances. I admire his great sense of observation and the comic timing that happens naturally to him. I started following him on Instagram.
He’s far too talented for this to have not happened. It was just a matter of time before Ved garnered a serious following on the Instagram, and is fast growing. Though has had a presence on Instagram from his college days in Sweden, he went viral recently after he started sharing Hindi content. He has become a popular content creator.
When I approached him, he was open to the idea of being profiled, written about. Since, we have had a few video chats. ‘Tell me about your family,’ I ask. ‘How many generations,’ he retorts, ’10-12 generations?’ He wasn’t joking. He has actually painstakingly prepared a family tree featuring mother’s ancestors. ‘Just a couple would do,’ I contain my laughter.
They say the devil lies in detail, yes, to an extent. Ved is more than his details. But here are some of the details that will give the right perspective to who he is and what he strives to become. He, admittedly, is an Indian by heart. Though his father is British, his mother Indian—born to a Naga mother and a Punjabi father, she’s a good example of national integration. They live in Goa.
Ved has been living with his Swedish girlfriend for the last ten months in Mumbai and then in Goa. He was 3 years old when he shifted to India from England, did his schooling at Woodstock School in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand. He went to Stockholm for three years to pursue college. He’s trilingual, he speaks English, Hindi and Swedish with ease, and has a way with words. Though he's Indian by heart, is gora in his physical manifestation, and towers above the natives— is just five inches short of seven feet. But, by his own description, he isn’t as ‘firangi’ like his father. To me, he’s the best of the two worlds. Ved’s a complex mix, the right mix. Perhaps sailing in two boats is not so bad, if boats are moored up.
Ved has a lethargic air about him, yet quick-witted, off-the- wall, jocular, and jokey. His sleepy eyes aren’t shallow. There's a certain charm about his tall lanky presence, he refuses to grow up.
He has a lethargic air about him, yet quick-witted, off-the-wall, jocular, and jokey. His sleepy eyes aren’t shallow. There's a certain charm about his tall lanky presence, he refuses to grow up.
Ved’s talent stems from non-exhaustive reservoir of ennui, if I may say, by his own experience, and my experience, is a powerhouse of creativity. Being ‘vela’ is not a bad way of spending time. It has allowed him to sit back, and let things happen. It’s the nature of things to find a way to happen.
In the meantime, he’s doing well witnessing people, their choices, actions, way of life, and appreciates the inherent humour in all their endeavours. He helped me understand that the humour doesn’t lie in life per say but how we see it. He doesn’t seem to take life too seriously and life pans out to him rather farcically.
I like his organic humour that stems from his immediate settings, the present moment. He’s open to life and experiences, receptive and perceptive about day-to-day happenings, and makes mundane humorous. That’s why his interpretation of the world makes him a fun-magnate.
He posts his videos regularly despite being a laziness personified, though they may seem to preserve randomness, it takes him four or five takes, a couple of hours to edit, but he, invariably, uses the first take. Humour is the most difficult thing to stage. So, he doesn’t.
He's a lucky bugger, blessed, and spreading happiness. These days he lives with his girlfriend in a Portuguese bungalow that has no running water and is preserved in its unblemished splendour. She’s a good artist, and he issued a warning to his followers—who he loves—not to mob her with friend requests. This is the reason why I didn’t name her. I told him that I was positively jealous of him.
‘Who are you?’ I pose this existential question. ‘I want to be an actor,’ he says. He’s fascinated by Bollywood. He sings Bollywood numbers well, and is featured frequently in his posts. He has a song for all situations, seasons, emotions. It’s a good way to convey complex ideas facetiously. Witnessing him dance, I foresee a potential career for him as a choreographer.
In his spare time, he’s sketching maps. He makes fictitious maps inspired by real cities. Mumbai, a thin strip of land, jutting out into the sea, is one of his favourites. He is interested in public transport--the life line of the city-- depicting them with bold lines in flashy colours cutting across the map. I like the force of his lines, they are not lost, and are fairly categorical.
Maps he makes are works of art, for it reminds me of figures, parts of the body, certain emotions, nerves and veins, and a host of other things if I look intently at them. For instance, interchanges seem like flowers in bloom. Drawing maps is his style, I feel. He can employ this style to draw anything he wants to.
Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well. And he's doing well. As somebody wise aptly said, with great humour comes great responsibility. He’s responsible and wields it for good. His compassionate heart is in the right place. He is for eating nutritious food, and keeping the surrounding clean and hygienic. He feels strongly for people in trouble and seeks help and support for them. The human rights violations in Gaza makes him jittery in Goa.
Ved bemuses me. Behind his perky self, I see a considered person who’s exploratory, intelligent and interesting. Charlie Chaplin famously said “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.” He leads life in long-shots.
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