When falling Sensex becomes a butt of joke

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New Delhi, Oct 12: Everything about the financial crisis need not be depressing. People are finding humour in the middle of the stocks meltdown, although punters who have burnt their fingers and much more would find it rude.

Mobile phones are abuzz with funny SMSs doing the rounds about the financial storm and the stocks crash.

Consider this SMS that goes: “Markets are set to regain 20,000 mark... (But only if) Sensex, Nikkei and Hang Seng are put together at 5,000 points each, NYSE Composite at 1,000 points, Dow Jones Industrial Average at 3,500 and Nasdaq at 500 points.” In the real world, Sensex is still above 10,000-point mark, but has nearly halved from its record high level seen early this year, DJIA has dipped to near 8,450, Nikkei is trading near its 20-year low at over 8,000 points.

There are also jokes online like “Black Mondays used to be a once-in-a-lifetime event. Now they are coming along more regularly than Delhi Metro trains.”

Another SMS doing the rounds says: “Respected Sensex Sir passed away on October 10, 2008 after not keeping well for nine months. The last rituals would be conducted at Lehman Brothers’ place.”

Another talks about the companies’ balance sheets:”Assets are written on the left and liabilities on the right side. But, there is nothing left on the right and nothing is right on the left.”

The market value of all the listed companies in India has nearly halved to about Rs 36.5 trillion from the level seen about nine months ago on January 10, the date when Sensex had scaled its record high of 21,206.77 points.

Another joke doing the rounds says that Raj Thackeray is ready to allow non-Mumbaikars to stay in the city, but it would be mandatory for them to invest in the stock market.

There are also some other jokes with political flavour: “Bankrupt allowed to return to their native place without ticket, says railway minister Lalu Prasad; Bankrupt to be given imported wheat free on ration: agriculture minister Sharad Pawar; Stock market losses to be treated as tax deducted at source: finance minister P Chidambaram.”

There are also SMSs like “blockbuster Saare Zameen Par (everyone bites dust) enters into 10th straight month at BSE and NSE multiplexes.”