The electronic bulletin-boards (B.B.) in Infy are immense fun. We get the most mind-numbingly dumb things over here amongst the loads of things people post. But I will talk about that in general some other time. That will take a lot of space by itself.

Last week there was this post about how bad the roads in Pune are. Since nobody has staked a claim to being the originator of that post, I will reproduce it here, and let it remain until I get lawyers crawling over me suing me for billions of dollars. The post, in itself, was nothing extraordinarily funny. But the response it evoked definitely was. People were out there, flaming each other, slinging mud in public and getting very sentimental about the entire issue. So here’s the post –

Theorems of Pune Roads:
1. Between any two potholes there is always a road.
2. If matters get worse, one pothole is always smaller than the other.
3. Never follow a car when you drive, follow just one tyre of the car.
4. The depth of a pothole is inversely proportional to its visibility.
5. The probability of a passing by lorry splashing mud on you is directly proportional to the importance of the occasion you are dressed up for.
6. No matter what you wear you will get wet.
7. No matter what you do, you cannot avoid a pothole; avoiding one will lead you into another.

This soon degenerated into a free-for-all about the city itself. Now that wasn’t the funny part.

The funny part is how people use disclaimers in their posts on the BB. The prevalent idea is that you can write anything and then if you put in a disclaimer at the end, you should be allowed to get away with it. It has developed into a fine art here. Except that people don’t get away with it. They are further chastised by shocked individuals, who put disclaimers in their posts. Here are a few examples, not actual ones from the BB, but pretty similar:

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From: Godzilla
Posted At: Monday, August 29, 2005 9:58 AM
Posted To: HJW Leisure
Conversation: Theorem of Pune Roads...
Subject: Theorem of Pune Roads..

Mr. XYZ, that was a very shocking statement you made. You are a pig.

Disclaimer: Nothing personal about the post.

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From: Shah Rukh
Posted At: Monday, August 29, 2005 10:15 AM
Posted To: HJW Leisure
Conversation: Theorem of Pune Roads...
Subject: Theorem of Pune Roads..

Pune is without doubt the best city in all of India. I can’t imagine how you people can stay anywhere else. But if you don’t like Pune, why don’t you get out.

Disclaimer: Views mentioned are the author’s personal opinion only.

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From: King kong
Posted At: Monday, August 29, 2005 11:28 AM
Posted To: HJW Leisure
Conversation: Theorem of Pune Roads...
Subject: Theorem of Pune Roads..

All you people will die today.

Disclaimer: to be taken in a lighter vein (TBTILV)

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This is what we witness daily on the BB. Now can you imagine how entertaining it all is? No wonder we Infoscions are in high spirits all the time.

That’s it for today.

Disclaimer: Godzilla, Shah rukh, and King kong are just names I made up, and not employees of Infosys.