JOIN USThe octogenarian YMN Murthy enthralled one and all at the Indian Institute of World Culture recently, where he delivered a talk on various humourous incidents from his life.
Bubbling with enthusiasm and full of stories, the 87-year-old founder president of Humour Club International, shared a few hilarious anecdotes from his younger days. “I am a revolutionary and love my freedom. I am a firm believer in destiny. I have changed the saying that ‘man proposes and god disposes’. In fact, it is destiny which disposes. One should have trust in hard work and believe in luck,” he said.
Through the course of the evening, he shared rib-tickling stories dating back to the time when he was a child as well as his college days. “I had such affection for the schools and colleges that I studied in that I spent an extra year in them,” said Murthy, as the audience broke into peals of laughter. He continued with his jokes, adding that he had many funny anecdotes from his days at school. “Once, I was late to school and was rushing to class. In the process, I missed a halt on the way and as luck would have it, I was caught by a sub-inspector. He chastised me for ignoring the signal and I blurted out that I had seen it but had not seen him. He immediately started laughing and warned me to be careful next time,” he explained.
He also recalled an incident where he was mistaken for cartoonist RK Laxman. “I had gone to a college to deliver a lecture. When I finished, a few students came up to me, asked me for an autograph and asked if I was RK Laxman. I was amused and told them that I may not be the popular cartoonist but at this age, I do look like one of his cartoon characters,” he noted. The audience broke into fits of laughter every now and then at his witty jokes. “He is great with words and is a living example of the fact that age is not a barrier. His stories took me back to my younger days and I feel pretty nostalgic,” quipped Vasudev, who attended the lecture.
Many who had heard him earlier said that they attend his talks as they are inspirational. “He motivates everyone to live life to the fullest and urges us to enjoy every moment that we have,” shared Raghavan K, a member of the audience.