The idea of political apathy lingers somewhere between being arrogant and living in a fool’s paradise. It was George Orwell, who once said, “In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics’. All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.” That might be a morbid indictment even of our current state of affairs. But the fact remains that turning a blind eye to the powers that be, leaves the polity vulnerable to insidious manipulation at the very least, and authoritarian subjugation at the very worst.

“But youngsters simply aren’t interested in politics because they find the content boring,” says Pratik Kanodia, co-founder of Bluewhistle, a start-up that aims to engage the youth in meaningful issues that have a direct impact on their life. And with that in mind, this weekend, they will be organising the first Mumbai edition of Intellectual Blah Blah, a platform where a serious political subject is viewed through the prism of humour.