Look, who has the last laugh!

Manika Ahuja

Have you ever wondered why Japanese women cover their mouths with their hands when they laugh or even smile? This is not a cultural phenomenon, as Japanese men laugh without covering their mouth. Unlike the worldwide culture that cherishes beautiful laughter, Japanese women aren’t supposed to laugh out loud because it is considered un-ladylike!

However, women from the Tricity, it appears, do not mind laughing out loud in public. On a visit to different happening places and parks in the Tricity, one finds a metamorphosis of sorts. What started with a group of five people has now turned into hundreds! Welcome to an all-ladies’ laughter kitty! They gossip for a couple of minutes, munch on some snacks and then laugh till tears of joy come streaming down their cheeks. Ha-ha-ho-hoing in the Tricity parks is passé for these ladies; the new definition of laughter clubs for them is meeting and laughing together in the comfort of their homes.

Flashing a child-like twinkle in her eyes, laughter expert, Meenu Narula, steps in, and everybody bursts out laughing raucously. Uh-uh, no funny accident transpired. Narula, who started the trend of laughter kitties, nearly two decades back, believes that joining laughter clubs and kitties are the best ways to adopt an optimistic approach towards life. “It is important to laugh. Earlier, my mother-in-law Janak, and I used to conduct laughter club classes in Chandigarh’s Sector-36, but we had to discontinue. I contemplated starting the concept of laughter kitties and during that half-an-hour of the day, all of us forget the world and enjoy ourselves,” she shares.

Ravinder Kaur, who has been religiously attending laughter kitty sessions for the last six years, agrees that doses of laughter relax the mind no end, “Every session of uncontrollable laughter leaves each one of us craving for more!”

Stiff no more

Isn’t laughter induced during laughter clubs unnatural? “Even if it is, it turns into real laughter within a couple of minutes. Besides, it is medically proven that only when we laugh for 15 minutes on a trot, do we reap the real benefits of laughter,” explains laughter expert Harish Chhabra, as he winds up his laughter club session in Model Park, Sector -20, Panchkula.

“Oh, but what about the kangaroo laughter exercise?” enquires one of the participants. And as if involuntarily, the group of 60-something people instantly bend their knees, and straighten up their hands like a kangaroo, and start laughing! Goes without saying that the contagious laughter soon takes a grip on onlookers, who stand transfixed, yearning to join the joyous group. “It is for free, join in, and keep laughing... ha-ha,” Chhabra welcomes the new members with glee.

Sunil Minocha, who retired as assistant manager of a Chandigarh-based daily, lists out some of the most bone-tickling exercises that he and fellow members of the club have become experts at performing, “Lion laughter and Namaste laughter!” While we still have a fair idea about the former, the latter intrigues us. He demonstrates by establishing firm eye-contact with his laughing-buddy, gently joins his hands, uttering a clear ‘namaste’ and letting out a loud wave of laughter. “These exercises not only induce humour, they are actually beneficial.”

Time out

Neha Sood serves as assistant professor, Mathematics, in Kurukshetra University. She makes it a point to “attend laughter club sessions as frequently as I can. Not just fellow teachers, I encourage even my students to join laughter clubs. They teach you how to let go off all worries.”