‘Some say I use it as a crutch’

‘Some say I use it as a crutch’
Bollywood uses this speech disorder as a comic element, but this comedian offers a fresh perspective to life as a stutterer

Pooja Vijay describes herself as a non-Hindi speaking ‘’Madrasi’’ living in Delhi. If that’s not enough of a premise for comedy, she’s also a chemical engineer who hasn’t managed to find chemistry with anyone yet. But what makes Vijay different from her other fellow comics is that she has taken to the stage despite her stutter. “And realising that I needed a hobby other than Facebook-stalking,” she says.

A little over two years ago, in October 2015, Vijay accompanied her friend on a whim to an open mic evening at Urban Solace in the city. “I felt like I could do this too. I can be pretty funny,” she says. Two weeks later, she was at the same performing space with her own set. “What I had to brave, really, was the stammer. It somehow seems to increase on stage. And you never know at what point it’s going to appear and how long it’s going to last,” says the 28-year-old.

Still, it’s been fun. Through her comedy, Vijay says she brings a “fresh perspective to life as a stutterer”. This, in addition to seeing the funny side of being an Indian studying in Europe, and her failed attempts at being politically correct.

Vijay says she has been surprised and overwhelmed by how her audience has overlooked the issue. The reaction from fellow comics, however, has not always been that benign. “People can get nasty. I’ve heard them saying that my stutter is not for real. Some have said that I’m using it as a crutch, and others have even gone on to say that if I get rid of the stutter I’ll be funnier,” she says. “But the majority have been supportive.”

Vijay started stuttering in sixth grade after which she went to speech therapy and tried other remedial measures before deciding to embrace it rather than feel bad about it. “I don’t look at myself as having a disability. There are good days and bad days…and you just can’t control it. On stage, at points when there’s been a prominent stutter, no one has been rude about it. I think people have been far more supportive than I had expected,” she says.

Her focus is more on her life and personal experiences and a couple of audience interactions. “I don’t want the whole show to focus on my stuttering; there’s so much more to me than just that. I don’t want the audience to think I’m nervous on stage. That’s why if I’m doing a 30-minute set, my jokes about stuttering are restricted to five. I don’t want to put myself in a box,” she says giving us an instance: “Since I’m fair-skinned, people in Delhi ask me every now and then how I look like that despite being a South Indian. I just tell them that it’s simpler to find a fair South Indian than a smart North Indian.”

While her initial performances were in Bengaluru, she moved to Delhi for work soon after, and has only recently moved back to namma ooru. The energy and environment researcher by day and standup by evening has been performing once a week.

Vijay wishes more people understood that standup is also a job. But what’s harder, she says, is being a female performer in a male-dominated space. “It’s a bit of a boys’ club. There are only a handful of women, though that has been steadily changing. But there have been times at open mics when there have been 15 men and just me…after a point it becomes uncomfortable,” she says, adding, “There is sexism. While it’s changing after the #MeToo campaign, it’s a long road ahead,” she says.