The 19th Hole

The game of golf is played over 18 holes and it takes 4 to 5 hours to complete. At the end there is the 19th hole which some call the watering hole where the victors and the vanquished gather either to celebrate their victory or drown their sorrows. Many golfers value the time spent on this hole more than the time spent playing the 18 holes.

Apart from the discussion related to golf the conversation can be on a wide range of subjects and like all sports persons, that too over a drink, the pride of place is for talk that makes one laugh. There are some who are born wits and few other have a big collection of stories and jokes and they can recall and at the appropriate moment. One such is a fellow golfer and 19th hole specialist, Mr B.N.S Reddy senior.

The following is what I heard from him last week end.

The anatomy professor was taking his first demonstration for the new batch of medical students. The fresh and uncut formalin reeking body was laid in front and the prof spent time impressing the students on reverence with which one should treat the dead body which is going to give them so much of knowledge and also the importance of keen observation in learning medicine. Then he proceeded to do a strange thing. He inserted a finger into the anus of the body and put the finger inside his mouth. This act, the students thought, was his way of showing respect to the prospective dead teacher, though a bit strange. But what followed was even worse. He asked the students to do the same one by one. Very reluctantly one by one, all the students did what he prof did.

The professor said after this ceremony of finger licking was over. 'Ladies and gentlemen, as I said earlier, in medicine, observation is very important and I am sad, none of you observed what I was doing. I inserted my forefinger but licked the middle’