Last night, as I dropped off to sleep, I wondered when was it that I last laughed out loud. Loud and uncontrollable… You know, the kind of irrepressible laughter that creeps up right in the middle of a serious music class or a formal lecture. Oh, the images I had to conjure up in my head just so that I could force some kind of control over myself! I’d find this incorrigible guffaw creeping up in my throat and then I’d frantically wonder: should I think of my Muttachchan(GrandDad) who died a few years back or should I try to picture some impoverished children in Dharavi? Oh God, anything to get some semblance of sobriety…
Of course, this happened many many years back. Now all I do is pass around polite smiles and snickers over sophisticated comments of sarcasm. Hmmmph!
I can picture Geetu giggling: almost-wicked, almost-guilty and so full of mirth; Mummy bursting into such helpless gusts of laughter with tears streaming down her eyes so violently that I was half-worried; Daddy’s guffaw bursting forth with his eyes closed….
Oh, how I miss my family’s mirth…
shri says:
I don’t know if you know this or not, but my sister has left for a job in Mumbai.This weekend, when she was home, she asked me, if I had missed her.
As usual, I started joking around that topic, refusing to give her a straight answer. Finally, my Mom told her, “Oh, she missed you alright. She was very quiet for the first two days. Not speaking much at all.She looked so lost.”
I guess, it was true. She is the chatterbox of our family, and also my best friend.
She is also the one that makes me laugh the most. Nowadays, I don’t laugh that often.
You see love come alive, when you see the people you love bubbling with laughter, isn’t it? 🙂
*hugs*
Shrilekha
July 19, 2004 — 8:06 am
Lakshmi says:
I knew it, Shri… The house must have suddenly seemed silent after her departure, didn’t it?
July 21, 2004 — 7:33 am
shri says:
The house must have suddenly seemed silent after her departure, didn’t it?
*sigh* Yes. There are so many thing that I want to talk to her about, but I can’t. Talking over the phone, is just not the same thing.
July 21, 2004 — 8:52 pm
Lakshmi says:
Oh, I agree… Talking over the phone.. doesn’t measure at all.
July 21, 2004 — 9:45 pm
Lakshmi says:
I know… talking on the phone simply doesn’t measure.
July 22, 2004 — 7:37 am
radhika74 says:
it’s been a LONG time since i laughed like that too..think that part ended with college.sigh.
July 19, 2004 — 9:46 am
deelight says:
I think we all need to meet soon, considering the last time, you did have a hearty laugh…or was that not too hearty?
July 19, 2004 — 10:36 pm
radhika74 says:
you haven’t heard my REALLY hearty laugh yet!:D
July 20, 2004 — 12:00 pm
deelight says:
So what I heard was just the hail before the storm. Have to experience the storm now! 🙂
July 20, 2004 — 11:07 pm
rileen says:
A lame suggestion ……
….. watch Andaaz Apna Apna.
July 19, 2004 — 11:26 am
Lakshmi says:
Re: A lame suggestion ……
:-))) Thanks, Rileen… Appreciate it.
July 19, 2004 — 11:30 am
rileen says:
Come to think of it, i could do with a viewing myself 🙂
And you’re most welcome!
July 19, 2004 — 11:32 am
nithya says:
Re: A lame suggestion ……
even better watch munna bhai MBBS its a riot
July 19, 2004 — 6:59 pm
thefirstidiot says:
Re: A lame suggestion ……
Or Chupke Chupke…I just saw it the other day. Could not help but laugh.
More Seriously, I still do laugh that way. Polite snickers and all are true, but there are times with friends I do end up rolling on the ground unable to stop.
Guess I got lucky, it just happened yesterday.
July 19, 2004 — 9:27 pm
Lakshmi says:
Re: A lame suggestion ……
You are lucky…
July 20, 2004 — 6:51 am
thefirstidiot says:
Re: A lame suggestion ……
Maybe so. I still ROTFL very often.
And I saw Jaane bhi do yaaron yesterday 🙂 Have seen more old hindi movies in the last three months then ever have in India. And they are howlarious.
July 21, 2004 — 9:30 pm
hariputtar says:
Now all I do is pass around polite smiles and snickers over sophisticated comments of sarcasm.
I can totally relate with that. 🙂 sophisticated sarcastic humor sucks, sometimes. it is largely corrosive. and it is predatory.
try some good old slapstick humor 🙂 *Anchorman: The Lengend of Ron Burgundy*
July 19, 2004 — 2:24 pm
Lakshmi says:
Unfortunately, I am not that big a fan of the American slapstick genre.. Drives me nuts mostly..:-)
July 20, 2004 — 6:52 am
hariputtar says:
🙂 ha. ha. i cannot blame you. really. i also do not watch movies from this genre on a regular basis. that will be too decadent even for my eccentric tastes. in fact the last movie that had Will Ferrell and i watched, grossed me out very much – Old School. but i am of a sturdier mettle – i have seen “JackA** : The Movie”, which is by far the grossest thing that could have been labeled a movie. (god! while i was watching, i sometimes had to walk away from the tv-room … these guys were mad.)
i prefer brit comedies – but they are not likely to get u guffaws. but they do leave you with a beaming balmy expression 🙂 [ e.g. in Love Actually, the sequences involving the writer, Jamie (Colin Firth) and the maid / caretaker, Aurelia (Lucia Moniz); the guy speaks english, the woman speaks portugese – and they converse … whatever the exchange can be called. its hilarious. ]
And the Rupert Everett comedies should be able to entertain you as well. they guy is a genius.
i hope u get your guffaws back. best wishes.
July 20, 2004 — 12:33 pm
Lakshmi says:
Yeah, I prefer the Brit brand myself. Dry, self-deprecating… better than the loud, gross, slapstick American kind… Y’know, all those ‘There’s something about Mary’ sorts…
July 21, 2004 — 5:40 am
hariputtar says:
that one was *wrong*! but as i have said, i have seen worse; however i will be a hypocrite if i said i did not laugh on it. thats the Ben Stiller shtick – he is also self-deprecating; his characters are universal losers till the lady love grants them redemption. not very believable though.
Not all brit comedies will appeal to ur tastes though.
These surely will – An Ideal Husband, The Importance of Being Earnest. The playwright (Wilde) and the star (Everett) are both amazing. [It is something of a faux pas though for a straight man to be talking so droolingly of them – for both of them are gay.]
July 21, 2004 — 6:50 am
Lakshmi says:
I want to see them too; have heard rave reviews.
As for American funnies, they involve (frequently) scatological humour.. it’s nauseating.
July 21, 2004 — 6:53 am
hariputtar says:
In the brit comedies, the characters themselves are not above scatological humor – there are ample hints to their decadence. However, they are not fixated on it. and the viewer is not told all the gory details.
July 21, 2004 — 7:13 am
Lakshmi says:
:-))
You have viewed a good number of Brit comedies, I think….
July 21, 2004 — 7:14 am
hariputtar says:
Hi.
try this when u have some time: http://mzonline.com/bin/view/Python/HolyGrailIntroduction
July 21, 2004 — 2:59 pm
rileen says:
sophisticated sarcastic humor sucks, sometimes. it is largely corrosive. and it is predatory.
Bang on … and precisely why i’ve been trying to lose a long standing habit. Getting better, though old habits do indeed die hard.
July 20, 2004 — 7:18 am
hariputtar says:
switching to self-deprecatory humor strictly and only, may help.
July 20, 2004 — 12:35 pm
rileen says:
Oh, i’m no stranger to self-deprecatory humour – it’s the exclusivity that’s the issue (and i’m not yet convinced of the only bit, i.e still favour minimization over elimination, sometimes it does feel justified).
July 20, 2004 — 12:40 pm
deelight says:
Ayoo mole, watch one of Mohan Lal – Srinivasan flicks…that would bring out the guffaws in an instant.
But you’re right…I think as we grow older, we lose out on the natural spontaneity but then again considering you had such a fit, it means that it’s all in there…and will express itself if you let it! I’m glad you had a fit of laughter…I love those fits, that has streams of tears running down.
July 19, 2004 — 10:41 pm
Lakshmi says:
No tapes, Dee… I’d lOVE to watch a Mallu comedy flick but ‘door door tak nazar nahin aata.’…:-(
July 20, 2004 — 6:52 am
manyou says:
Yet another suggestion…..
Maybe this helps…. on the POGO channel, you have a programme – Just for Laughs – Gags and Just for Laughs – Variety. There are quite a few repeats, but with some of the clips, I sometimes cant hold my laughter in. The programme is something like Candid Camera.
Or, even the regular stuff like the Home Alone series.
Or, you could get together with some college buddies – just the memories should make you smile.
July 19, 2004 — 11:18 pm
Lakshmi says:
Re: Yet another suggestion…..
Last suggestion… best one.
July 20, 2004 — 6:53 am