THERE’S A VIDEO doing the rounds of a young lady with a mic making jokes about lawyers and loneliness. She says we’re makers of our own mischief, drowning in our briefs while searching for meaning in legal precedents.
We’ve become soft targets, it seems. Someone wants to talk about depression amongst lawyers, another about our angst and irritability. ANGST – that old friend – the kind that gets seniors to raise their voices – just a little – on their juniors. Maybe once in a while there's a theatrical slam of files on desks. I hear iPhones and iPads are being used as ammunition around these days.
It's all part of the learning process, after all. You’re incomplete if a caustic commentary hasn’t been flung in your face, or you haven't watched your research work flutter to the floor.
As you collect those scattered pages and pieces of your shattered self-esteem, you ought to thank your stars – you got the opportunity to have doors slammed in your face by people who matter. They're always polite about it, of course. The rich and elite usually are. Screaming is for the lower-income masses. We prefer our cruelty refined, served with a side of public law and a garnish of precedent.
Mubarak ho – Exposure hua hai!
