Understanding humour

Sebi chairman allowsa the media to have a sense of humour

At Sebi Bhavan a few days ago, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had read out the National Stock Exchange’s explanation of the freak crash of October 6. He then declared he hadn’t understood a thing. “If you understood, congratulations,” he jokingly told reporters. Later, at an event attended by the Securities and Exchange Board of India Chairman U K Sinha, a reporter repeated the finance minister’s comment and asked if it was a reflection on the functioning of capital market. In a deft reply, Sinha said it was for the exchange concerned to comment on that particular release, but all Sebi communications are always in “easy to understand” language. “It’s all right, you are in the media. You people are allowed to have a sense of humour,” he added.