sense of humour

i remember someone had once asked me, what are the qualities you would look for in your life partner. i had used all the cliched words under the sun, to which the person had responded, and how about sense of humour? i didnt realise the significance of it then, but now i do. particularly when you start juggling with responsibilities and time becomes a scarce resource. thats when you need someone with a good sense of humour to jack up the fun quotient in your life.

while partner may not be an immediate reality for me, but professors are. and i have to tell you about two of them whose sense of humour is so far unmatched. little surprise that they both teach finance subjects and openly accept the need for humour while conducting a finance course. more so when the class is scheduled after lunch and for the presentation to be viewed clearly, the lights need to be dimmed. although too detailed a description is not fun and you have to be there to experience it. but i can give a highlight from each of these two professors' humour.

cut to two weeks ago. mid terms exams start tomorrow. its evening and we are huddled around a table preparing for the first paper when prof.L's mail pops up. his paper is scheduled only the day after tomorrow, so i look at the pop-up and wonder what on earth does the subject line "surprise" could mean at this hour. then the drama unfolds. his exampaper has been leaked. the file has been uploaded on the intranet where all the course material is usually uploaded on a daily basis. and the prof's reaction? surprise and dismay. s*** happens. papers get posted on intranet. life is an arena for trying out mistakes. there is no trace of anger, only dismay at the realisation that he will have to prepare the paper again. oh what a beautifully tricky paper he had designed! so how do you deal with mistakes? you accept them and you convert them into a learning opportunity. so the prof after finding out about the leak, ponders over the extent of damage done, the possibility of it having been read already and eventually decides to review the erstwhile exam paper with the students. you couldnt have missed his dejection at having to unravel the witty and well disguised tricks in the paper for the whole class. before starting the review, he said please wake me up if i fall asleep reviewing this. no prizes for guessing the lines on which the actual paper was designed.

exams are fun too. you listen to music while solving the paper. you spend the previous evening packing for the ski weekend (which is to follow the end of midterm exams), and then practice a couple of sample papers while having dinner and icecream. fun stuff. the professors obviously know about the ski trip, they can see the rucksacks, placed neatly along the seats, they can sense the eagerness among students to grab beer 2 hours from then. so what do they do? they design the paper based on analysing a ski workshop. at least you get to know how your skis are made, while you go through the formality of an exam.

back to my other finance professor. he had introduced himself as, "i am german, and that being said, bring on all the stereotypes". well he lived up to the stereotype of being very witty. let me tell you what happened today. so we have labels indicating our names in front of our desks. the prof was in class, and some students changed the name of one of our classfellows (who is perpetually late) to "miss andorra 2010". nothing significant, just timepass. unfortunately the to-be-victim walked in just then, saw the trick and as he sat at his desk, he started to remove the label. the rest happened for me in slow motion, although without any background music. the prof walked up to this guy, took his face in his hands and kissed him on both cheeks. you could imagine him on stage, awarding the "miss andorra 2010" crown to the hapless beetroot red-faced victim. needless to say, the whole class burst out in wild laughter and applause. the other good thing was that we stayed awake for the rest of the duration of the class.

you have brands of humour, sorted by nationalities.. the sarcastic indian, the cynical german, the loud american, the dark british. and then there is the brand of humour sorted by profession. and finance professors top my list.