Friday, January 6, 2012

Shadenfreude

Sometimes visitors who have come after a long gap will be confronted by the killer question, 'Can you see any changes in him?' At first I used to feel uncomfortable with this question but then I began to derive a perverse pleasure in watching visitors ponder over how to answer the question tactfully.The straight-forward answer to this question would have been to say that they could not see any change. But it is not socially acceptable to give such a blunt answer.

So there will be some standard anodyne responses that will be like the following:

- His skin is glowing.
- His eyes are shining.
- He is looking more alert.
- The little finger of his left hand moves (it always did).
- His legs move when he coughs (they always did).

I will sit impassively listening to the exchanges.

3 comments:

  1. what is the schadenfreude here and where is it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kailash,

    Visitors are not exactly suffering, they are just put in an awkward situation so yes, you are right. It is a stretch.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yaad rakhungi...yeh post yaad rakhungi!!!

    ReplyDelete