Let’s find some laughter this April Fool’s Day

Did someone crack a joke on you this morning? Did you succeed in making a fool of someone today? If not, you are not alone. You are joining the growing number of people from whose lives ‘humor’ is drying up.

And if no one dared to try a prank on you today, the joke is probably on you. You are probably regarded as the ‘serious’ type with restricted ability to appreciate and take jokes, or worse, considered the ‘intolerant’ reactive type who would react with irritation, anger or aggression.

Humor, it used to be said once, is the best medicine. That pill has now either crossed its expiry date, or has become ‘resistant’ to the serous bugs that swamp our lives.

It becomes very difficult indeed for doctors to show their humorous side. An affable colleague of mine often creates turbulence trying to add a dash of humor to his consultations, some reacting with grouse that he did not take their serious problems as seriously as they wanted.

Soon after I became a doctor, I learnt how to park my ‘humor’ in a rusty drawer of my mind, wipe that ‘silly’ smile off my face, put on a frown to give the impression of intense seriousness, and shun jokes (never with critical patients and first timers of course!).

But there are challenging tests that we are put through in trying to keep a straight face and listening intently to the “painful” stories of patients. Yes, the stories are always painful, as hardly anyone in his a cheerful state is expected to visit a doctor.

Once a 50 odd bearded tall gentleman sporting a dense luxurious butterfly moustache came to consult me for the problem of excessive “gas” in his stomach.

As “gas” means many things to many people, from bloating, fullness, burping, belching to flatulence and passing of wind down the lower end, I ascertained what I understood to be his real trouble, to be the last one. While I was scribbling a prescription, he surprised me by saying, “But doc, farting relieves my distention quite a bit. So please do not give medicines to stop it”.

“How do you want me to help you then?” I asked in surprise. “Can you give me some medicines to make it smell nice?” he asked.

I scanned the medical literature on the range of odors of farts, but could not come across any scientific regime that could make it smell pleasant. I pleaded ignorant and incompetent, but the patient kept visiting me several times with renewed expectation.

In desperation, I finally suggested he meets with my “humorous’ colleague.

Some years later, I bumped into this patient in the market. He held my hand in gratitude and told me how satisfied he was with the referral. My “humorous” friend had managed to cure him. I did not dare to ask him how it smelled now, but realized how humor could achieve what medicines could not!