Sarcasm and Dark Humour

Some things in life are hard to give up. Especially if you have been doing it for as long as you can remember and you rather enjoy it. Enjoy is not the right word here. Rather, its a way of life for me. Reading and humour. That's what I am referring to. Make that reading and dark humour. For those of you who are wondering as to why on earth is this guy rambling on about two unconnected things, let me explain.

The other day I was reading an Alistair McLean novel, "Way to Dusty Death". I simply love the guy and his writing style. The common element in quite a few of his books is the hero or the protagonist. A calm, cynical, competent guy devoted to his work who battles against seemingly unbeatable odds and usually comes out trumps. My connection with the books ends with the humour part, because I am not half as competent as the lead characters in those books and nowhere as resourceful. The humour in his books is a little obscure and more than a little dark. Also, noticeable in his books is a marked lack of sex and romance, making the story fast and without distractions, but that is something best covered elsewhere. Clive Cussler also has a lot of dry humour in his books, especially the Dirk Pitt ones.

And yeah, coming back to the humour part, I guess that's one of the reasons I am such a big fan of his. Practising the same brand of humour for so long a time, that it is now an integral part of me. People say it probably runs in my blood, but I think it is just practice and something that has been perfected over the years. I must confess here that the sarcasm is normally quite sharp and more than what might be called a few have taken offence. Not that I care too much, but its just that for people who matter and know me well, they realize that the offence is incidental and not intentional. As far as the rest of them are concerned, I have neither the time nor the inclination to set the record straight.

Reverting back to my usual immodesty, I must say that the number of people affected are far less than it should have been. Sarcasm just passes right through most of the people (research says sarcasm misses 7 out of 10 people), making their life so much more tolerable to themselves.

And here is one of my favourite quotes to sign off with " Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege."

P.S. - I just remembered, today happens to be Diwali, and I shall be celebrating it on campus.
Happy Diwali !