Gallows Humour

Sep 09

Some people have morbid fascination for death ( Of other people). They tell anyone and every one that a death has occurred. Until they get it off their chest they are not happy." Do you know? Today someone I know has handed in his dinner pail". I had spoken to him only recently and now he is no more". It does not matter whether the other person is in a frame of mind to listen to this monologue or not - it is imperative that this news be imparted to all and sundry. And then there are others who do not want to talk about it at all. They are the people who relate to such occurrences in a silent manner . For them it is a sad mishap which should not have happened and it did... Then there are others who feel that the sooner the person is removed from memory the better . There are others who have grave side humour ostensibly to ameliorate their feeling of distress and in the end turn out to be irritating and start grating on everyone's nerves. It is not an uncommon feeling among the others to restrain themselves from becoming violent and causing injury to such persons. One famous joke is by Ronald Reagan - when he was shot and wheeled into the operation theater - asking the Doctors , " I hope that all of you are republicans".  In any case death is a serious business and it is said that Freud summed up gallows humour as follows "The ego refuses to be distressed by the provocations of reality, to let itself be compelled to suffer. It insists that it cannot be affected by the traumas of the external world; it shows, in fact, that such traumas are no more than occasions for it to gain pleasure."  Why death? I say why not? Any case it leaves the survivors traumatized. We should support them in their hour of need . For is it not all about help and support?

Today's class was once again with Prof Sachendra. Realising that our level of understanding was not what it should be as far as the decision tree was concerned he decided to educate us on the matter by working it out for ourselves as to how the tree functioned by solving practical problems .. The first problem was solved only by Sivaram and Himanshu. Then it was solved by the Professor for the benefit of the entire class. The second problem was solved by a few more people. By the time the third problem was posed , the tree started flowering - even I understood the method to go about solving the problem. By the time the fourth problem was given the entire class was on the take and easily solved the problem. The methodology, patience and forbearance adopted was commendable. There is a suspicion lingering in my mind that the illustrious professor took it on as a challenge to make sure that we not only understood the logical  way to arrive at the solution but also that we did not forget the teaching all our life. He kept offering us blandishments in form of tea (in the first break) Lunch (in the second break ) and the reward of early release in the final session if we came up to his standards ( Low as they were for us). We rounded the class with a presentation on the process mapping of our choice and pinpointing the shortcomings and how we would overcome them. It was approved by the Professor. During the tea break we were joined by Professors Shah and Shahaida. They discussed with us things other than those concerned with putting our nose to the grindstone of learning and so helping us to recharge our batteries for nurturing a decision 'Plant ' in to a decision tree.

Rains lashed Hyderabad again today . Indira was munificent in all ways after ignoring,  the city for a long time....