It was five hours of continuous laughter, entertainment and merriment at Sumo’s Convention Hall in Jayanagar where hundreds of members from laughter clubs across the city gathered to celebrate World Laughter Day. The first Sunday in May is celebrated as World Laughter Day.
The sound of loud infectious laughter could be heard ringing across the hall, forcing everyone who stepped into the room to crack a smile. The gathering, comprising mainly of the elderly, laughed out loud with various “kinds” of laughter and breathing exercises that included clapping and cheering. In keeping with the IPL season, members also showed off some cricket-based laughter exercises like ‘umpire laugh’ and ‘sixer laugh.’
This was followed by imitations of noted personalities by mimicry artist Gopi who had the audience in splits, and various cultural programmes . The women’s group of the Devagiri Laughter Club came dressed in saris and put on colourful sunglasses for their fusion dance. With 200 clubs in the city, Bangalore has earned the tag of having the most number of laughter clubs in any city in the world. Now, the State has over 400 clubs, of which 25 are exclusively for women.
The Karnataka Laughter Clubs president, Lion Prof. P. Sadashiv said that that as modern lifestyles had become stressful, laughter clubs would help bring about a change in the attitude of an individual to help him lead a healthy and happy life.
