Poet Dilip Dubey at BIT. Pix: Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, April 2: Nothing was sacred at BIT Mesra?s Hasya Kavi Sammelan on Saturday evening, as seven Hindi poets added a humorous touch to everyday situations and current affairs.

Students and faculty members took a break from studies, as they listened to the poets discuss Mallika Sherawat, Baba Ramdev, corruption, patriotism and domestic affairs.

Hindi poets of national fame ? Surya Kumar Pandey, Chakachaundh Jnanpuri, Amit Anpadh, Dinesh Diggaj, Dilip Dubey, Raghavendra Tripathi and Shankar Ram ? had the audience in fits of laughter. Many of the poets have appeared on popular TV serial Wah-Wah.

?Mallika Sherawat once went to meet Baba Ramdev and said you became famous in India by just wearing a gerua vastra, Mahatma Gandhi became famous all over the world in just a small piece of dhoti. I want to become famous all over the universe,? said one of the poets.

Just when the entire hall was full of laughter, thinking they had the punch line, the poet added: ?The actress has stopped taking her luggage with her, instead she keeps her clothes in her purse?.

Politics, too, got caught in the crossfire.

Another poet said: ?During the last elections, BJP workers trained their guns on Sonia Gandhi asking what has been her contribution to the nation, except giving birth to Rahul and Priyanka. Charged Congress workers then started saying: ?Your (bachelor) leader Atal Behari Vajpayee has not given even this much?.?

Domestic situations were a favourite with the audience.

?A child asks his mother about the difference between truth and faith. Mother says: ?I am your mother is truth whereas he is your father is faith?.?

The jokes flew thick and fast much to the delight of the audience. One poet tried to draw a parallel between a wife and a beloved by his poetry. ?While your beloved is like a mobile phone, wife is like a fixed (landline) phone,? he said.

Shankar Ram of Bihar drew the attention of the injustice meted out to his state after bifurcation.

?You (Jharkhand) kept the mental hospital (Central Institute of Psychiatry, Kanke) with you. Where will our mental patients go?? he asked.

On the second day of the new year celebrations ? organised by the Bhartiya Nav Varsh Samiti and Spic Macay?s BIT sub-chapter ? a cultural programme was organised, which included a Sanskritik mela and a dandia performance.