WHY DO WE SMILE OR LAUGH?

SCENE 1

bringing a cute kid to a girl's -only hostel is the biggest mistake a mum can do to her kid. well, it so happened that once while me and my buddies were sitting down to have tea, in comes the hero of the day- bright pink cheeks, a winning smile, eyes you could simply drown yourself into, and a cute chuckle that made us all go ga-ga. we crowded round the unfortunate little baby and tried making it laugh and play and make gurgling sounds. looking back at the incident, i can't help but wonder if the adorable little baby got all muddled up about how somebody ought to communicate..."i did all this and mum told me to speak more clearer with proper manners"...

all of us try to make it laugh but none of us suceeds. my buddy sree(the laziest of us) says, "oh shucks! dunno why all of you are actually bothering to make it smile. they say babies smile only if they are frightened." i look at her and roll my eyes with the remark,"you're just lazy to make it laugh". Just then shru gives the baby her million dollar smile (braces and all), and those delicate lips curl at the edges, those misty eyes twinkles and we hush up to see those pink cheeks glow and listen to it laugh...for an entire minute the cute thing was brave enough to sustain that smile...and then, to our horror Mr. Baby crumbles it's face and lets out a heart wrenching wail...wwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! "told ya" murmurs sree.



SCENE 2

i'm walking in the streets of bangalore with big bro and we exchange important information...we talk about various things we've observed in life, about what we would like to do and be....big bro gives me advice about how guys actually feel about girls and at the same time asks me genuine doubts about why girls act really peculiar at times. "you know what? i've noticed that girls laugh to impress guys and indicate to them that they are interested and not because they think what the guys say is funny."says big bro in a philosophical tone. that statement startles me and i go back to the moments i laughed at silly jokes and unconsciously prayed that none of the guys i laughed with thought the same. i shake my head but don't know what to say because i've never thought of it that way...maybeee.....afterall didn't Frued say we've got unconscious biological drives in all of us....i give my head a thorough shake to clear my head of those thoughts...if i dwell too much, i very well know that the next time i'm with my friends i'll be smirking at everyone's jokes instead of giving it my all....

SCENE 3
i'm back in college and quite bored with life....all my friends have gone to do their master's some place else, while i'm stuck in the same old college...i stroll outside the library and come face to face with a classmate of mine who i am not very much fond of.....she introduces me to her mum saying, "remember mum, Reni? i've told you a lot about her..." i stretch my lips and try to make the sides of my lips curve to manage to make it atleast look like a smile and at the same time wonder about what nasty things she must've said about me. i was just smiling to look polite.....nothing else...