ABSTRACT
The Partition of 1947 gave physicality to a cultural divide which had already been ingrained in Bengali society: the divide between the eastern Bengal and the rest of the Bengal, or between the Bāngāl and the Ghoti. This difference, though hierarchical in nature, is masqueraded in innumerable ‘innocuous’ humorous cultural expressions including language. In the post-Partition scenario, when millions of people became refugees and came to West Bengal much to the anxiety of the native inhabitants, humour became a site where the pain of the refugees, and the anxieties of the native people confronted in socially acceptable ways. Humour becomes an act of defence mechanism of accepting trauma, and re-asserting one’s lost self-dignity.
