Wit is a rare ability. Some people are born with it, and some are not. It is almost impossible to learn wittiness if you don’t have it in you. Here are two examples from my B-school days, which highlight the fine line between the audacious and the dumb.
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A world renowned CEO of an Indian IT giant, had once graced our annual fest. During one of the informal discussions Mr. CEO was having with the students and alumni, one of our seniors who had passed out from the institute a year back, and was now working with the same IT company, walked up to him and said. “Hi ----, I am ----. Both of us work for the same company.”
The entire room burst out laughing.
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A flamboyant Cabinet Minister had once come to our institute to inaugurate our annual fest. Due to the tight security arrangements, and the truckloads of press reporters around him, students were not allowed into the auditorium where he was giving his speech. Instead, they were accommodated in another hall on the top floor of the same building, and his address was being relayed live there. One of my acquaintances from another B-school had come over to attend the session along with her friends. When I introduced her to one of my batchmates, he remarked, “I hope you enjoy you time here. You won’t get a chance to be on top of a Cabinet Minister too often.”
Something in her expression told us that my batchmate had got the wisecrack dead wrong.
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