Sense of Humor

As long as there are pretentious and workaholic people around us, good sense of humor is soon going to be extinct. It's not the lack of it that bothers me. What bothers me is the quality. The other day I overheard two s/w engineers speaking to each other. The dialogue went like this, "Abe yaar, spouse ka female kya hota hai...". The other one replied, "Spice" and they both laughed as if Tim Sidell has just finished telling them three hundred jokes. It is for moments like these, that the phrase, "Fuck my life" was invented. 

Coming to movies. Especially in Telugu movies, sense of humor is great.. In the 1980s, a man called Jandhyala revolutionized Telugu comedy. I also consider him one of the greatest directors of all time. But of late, men who think they are funny have terra-fucked the comedy scene. I think it isn't their mistake either. The other day, I was watching a Telugu movie in a theater and there was a drunk man slapping another and half the people in the theater were laughing their asses off. On another occasion, in a scene where a man was hit with a stone on his forehead and he started crying. For this scene, people almost fell off seat. See, this is where the problem lies. Even Hindi movies somehow fail to be funny. Simply fail. 

After any insurance professional, the worst jokes ever are told at office team lunches. One such epic facepalm joke I heard while dining at Alex's Kitchen. A group of about seven came and occupied a long table along a corner. One of them said, "Ok, let's start the meeting. Aanad, note down minutes of the meeting" and they all burst out laughing. I wanted to throw the hot noodle soup on his face and walk away but our constitution came in my way. 

Sense of humor displayed by good trainers is always of the highest quality unless it is insurance. In my first job at an insurance company (which I quit in 2 months and have been abusing that industry ever since), a trainer told me the most disgusting joke of my life. It  was about a man shitting in his pants while trying to escape form a tiger in a jungle. I remember one of my colleagues laugh hysterically at that joke. That was the last I saw that trainer, but his joke still puts me off when I think of it. 

At office outings, ghettoization begins even before the bus for the venue arrives. There are people who have fun, there are those who crib and complain, there are those who eat and sleep and then there are those who keep thinking of work and discuss projects even when you are supposed to kick some ass. Beyond all of them, there are the ones who just find a tree, sit under it and hadn't enjoyed a joke since Ant and Elephant jokes were invented. They are as clueless as a pubic hair stranded on a public urinal waiting for something to take it down. These are the poeple who need help. They need to learn to laugh, to live, to have a great time while you are here as rightly suggested by a Hindi song 

"Haste Haste, kat jaaye raste, zindagi yun hi chalti rahe...khushi mile ya gham, badlenge naa hum....duniya chaahe badalti rahe!"

I laugh for 10 mins at least everyday. Do you?

- Deepak Karamungikar