Dark Humor in the Chaos
As a photojournalist, I’ve witnessed my fair share of madness—some tragic, some absurd, and a few that straddle the fine line between both. One such day, laughter and grief mingled in a way I never imagined.
It was the kind of day where death and dark humor stood side by side. An irate elephant had turned on its own mahout, swinging him like a rag doll before trampling him to death. The crowd was frozen in horror, unsure whether to flee or pray. Then, as the elephant momentarily turned its attention elsewhere, chaos broke loose.
That’s when I noticed people sprinting out of a nearby shop. At first, I thought nothing of it—just another wave of terrified bystanders making a run for it. But then, in the blur of motion, one man caught my eye. His face was completely powdered white. My first thought? A painter caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. But no, it was far more bizarre than that.
The man had been in the middle of a facial at a beauty parlor when the elephant’s rampage began. Trapped inside, he had no choice but to wait until the moment was right to escape. And when he finally did, he burst onto the street in full spa treatment mode—a face mask still perfectly intact, looking more ghostly than groomed as he bolted for safety.
The absurdity of the sight was too much. In a moment so charged with grief, fear, and adrenaline, a few of us, including other reporters, found ourselves unable to hold back our laughter. We had just witnessed an elephant claim a life in the most brutal fashion, yet here we were, cackling at the sight of a man fleeing for his life with a half-done beauty routine. It was wrong, but it was real.
That day, we cried for a life lost. And we laughed—hard—for the ridiculousness that life sometimes throws our way. As a journalist, you don’t get to choose the emotions the world presents to you. You just capture them all.
