Laughter Mania

Nervous laughter. Yes, that’s what it is called when you start laughing in grave situations.

Even though I don’t recall being nervous while laughing in inappropriate situations but that’s just what science says. It’s more like a coping mechanism for your brain when it’s trying to soothe you. But we all know, it doesn’t ‘soothe’ us much. Especially when it puts us in a precarious position in front of our friends and family and we risk being called an insensitive or downright crazy person. Although recounting such events of unwarranted laughter might be funny. That’s what I’m about to do here.

Here are the stories of me being insensitive:

A few days ago my father (who’s a paediatrician) was telling us about one of his cases at the dinner table. (Before you wonder, whether this is a breach of privacy, it’s not, my father doesn’t disclose the details of the patient even to his family). The child had fallen sick because he/she had inhaled some weird poisonous gas, which was emanating from a mixture of bleaching powder and Harpic, which the child had deliberately made. This incident had happened late in the evening and my father suspected that more complications would arise by nightfall and was worried about that. While everyone else at the dinner table made a sad face at this, I couldn’t stop smiling. I remembered the time I used to do such silly things in the bathroom while my mother thought I was bathing for 1 hr until of course, she found out about the mess I had created 🙃.  I used to mix talcum powders of all kinds with water in the hope of making an even more fragrant perfume. I used to experiment with floor cleaner, Lizol, hair conditioner, mom’s makeup foundation and what not, and thought of myself as an exceptional scientist second to none. Needless to say, my very ordinary mother did not appreciate the budding genius in me and successfully managed to beat the genius out of me. (The child we spoke of previously must have had a similar thought process. ) Oh, The good ol’ days! 

Note to children who might be reading this : Always do your genius experiments under adult supervision or you might end up in the hospital.

Note to parents: Kids are weird. Don’t let them have a bath for too long, lest they awaken the genius in them.

Another time, when my aunt(my father’s first cousin) visited our house with her father(my grandfather’s brother-in-law, yes you do the math!) , I remember laughing (or rather shaking horribly from suppressed laughter) at the old gentleman’s senile talk on various topics ranging from world politics to physical ailments, while everyone else sat around with long faces and carried on with the conversation to the best of their abilities. The air in the room was pretty awkward and kinda funny.

Now, I would like to stop recalling such embarrassing situations and end this blog here. If you have a habit of laughing at the wrong time, hi 5 to you. I wish you good luck in trying to hold back your laughter while having serious conversations. 

Thank you so much for reading this. Have a great day and see you soon. 🙂