Hey Clementine,

Have you ever felt that at certain moments everything falls into place? I write to tell you about my experience in this regard that changed me radically and even led me to your mother!

Event 1: Bad jokes are good for you

As a child, I had a love-hate relationship with a habit of Papa. He used to crack jokes, really poor jokes, which made everyone around him laugh (or cringe), but sometimes he cracked self-denigrating jokes which I hated maybe because I loved him, or it hurt my ego because my dad was coming off as silly. Anyway, one day I asked him to stop all this, to which he responded, “We are all made of soil, and one day we will return to it. How can mere words change the value of soil? But if those words can bring happiness to someone else, I do not see any harm. That is divine to me.”

Something changed in me, and I had no response. Time passed…

Event 2: Mental workout

A few years later, one of my friends told me that the brain stops growing after we turn 15 and I fell for it. This started my intelligence obsession phase. I wanted to grow my brain as much as possible before it was too late. I took random IQ tests, read articles about the brain, and finally stumbled upon one of Tony Buzan’s books. I was hooked!

The book told techniques to improve memory like the Greek Peg method, and Exaggeration. Basically, I was convinced that there are ways to exercise the brain. And my favorite hack was Exaggeration, where you stitch a story around exaggerated abstract things. For example, if you have to remember a list of items, you imagine them as characters with exaggerated features, like a long nose, or small head with big ears, so that they stick in the mind. Then you turn your list into a story of interactions between these exaggerated characters.

I used to pick random lists and try to memorize them. And trust me, it was so much fun. Sometimes, I used to laugh at my own imagination. This was a sweet period, but like everything else, it eventually ended.

Event 3: Witnessing wit

As I entered college, even though my obsession with memory had faded, I was still in the habit of reading articles about the brain and psychology. And then one day I stumbled upon the concept of “wit,” something Aristotle called “educated insolence.”

Wit consists of finding similarities in seemingly dissimilar things or vice-versa. Wit brings a fresh perspective into mundane scenarios and can come out as wordplay, sarcasm, and of course bad jokes! And the icing on the cake is that it’s a creative mental exercise!

The moment that changed it all!

The moment I read about wit, I realized I had been practicing it all along, just that I didn’t know the term and its benefits. And with this, my mind instantly connected all the three events I told you above. Somehow, every piece of the puzzle fell into its place.

Two of my favorite activities were married now: bad jokes and mental exercise. I saw myself as an ambassador of happiness and good health because as they say, “laughter is the best medicine.” Cracking bad jokes and using as much wit as possible was now the way of life for me, my new identity. But wait! This marriage unlocked an even bigger gift: I started having endless content on everything.

Since my mind was always trying to connect things amusingly, I had an ocean of things to talk about. For example, I remember empathizing with mosquitoes for sucking blood, calling my friends yin-yang, and how lazy people were more eco-friendly. The list went on, and so did my conversations, and then one day I came across someone named Clementine.

Meeting your mother

I’m sure you’ve wondered why your name is the same as your mom’s. And above all, why Clementine?

As you know, I’m a huge lover of oranges, and on the first day of my third semester in college, as I was checking the list of students in my new class, I came across a unique name: Clementine! I knew I had to meet this person and tell them about my love for oranges, and lucky for me she turned out to be a beautiful girl who could appreciate my sense of humor. What else could I ask for?

It’s hard to believe but on the first day itself, we must have talked for more than 2-3 hours! I sat with your mom and told her how she was a fresh orange personified. And I think she must’ve liked the joke because the rest is history 😉

Today, I feel life has come full circle where I am a believer of bad jokes, a true believer in all of Papa’s reasons he told me as a child. It’s really beautiful how a simple play of words can make even the toughest situations bearable. In fact, with negativity on the rise globally, I believe that memes will save the world!

And oh, why did we name you Clementine? Partly my love for oranges, partly my love for your mom, and of course a bad joke. Don’t hate me, pleeeaase.

Ok bye! 👻

Love love love