The Lighter Side..

I admire bloggers who use the website for entertainment and fun. I love reading their jokes and wisecracks. They make you laugh and laugh till your stomoch throbs with indigestion. But, at the end of it all, I settle on something serious to think about.

Why? Because the laughter and jokes do lighten up the soul but do not ENLIGHTEN it. They brighten up the day (or night) but do not throw light on present problems and future possibilities. As the saying goes: "When you laugh, everyone laughs with you; but when you cry, you cry alone!" When you start laughing and crying at odd times, that's a clear sign that some nuts are coming loose! So, watch it!

Nevertheless, jokes or funny anecdotes are the spice of life. I love those who always have a keen eye for things that are funny and see amusing things in what I see as normal and humdrum. They certainly have an extra sense of perception or an extrasensory faculty that screws up things in a hilarious way.When I see a cow, a humorous friend sees a pair of horns with a snout like a snub-nosed kettle with broken handles sprouting up at rightangle to the snout. When I see a bicycle, he sees two wheels chasing and trying to outrun each other with a pair of stumps whacking their sides....

Some people are so good at seeing the lighter side of life that they laugh at their own shadow. ( That to me is beteer than being frightened of your own shadow!) An Uncle of mine in cheering me up after I cut my finger said that the bad blood wanted to run off from my body. If it remained, I'd get sick and become cockeyed. I smiled and let the blood drip for a while before applying some ointment and a bandage.


When a young relative passed away that Uncle quipped: " He has gone home early because he didn't like the world. Perhaps he didn;t want to get married and make a girl pregnant, with a big tummy to carry about like a bloated penguin." When his own wife gave birth, he chuckled: " My wife has exploded and produces a shell very much like myself. But he has no teeth yet or otherwise he'll bite his mother's breasts and make them full of holes. Then, I wouldn't want to be near her anymore!"

What do these people have that makes them extraordinary, always in demand to tickle our ribs and see ordinary things from a jovial angle? I found the answer sometimes back when I was to get married. I'd asked my Uncle for some advice and he told me:

" To be married is to share your life with a woman - your bed, your house, your food...everything. When you speak, you speak not only for yourself but also for her or otherwise your words will hit you back like a poison arrow. When you workl, you also work for her...."
" Isn't there anything that I can do for myself alone after marriage?..." I interruptred, feeling terrified.
" Oh, yas," he smiled. " You've to pay for everything yourself if you break up the marriage. You've to pay for everything that she needs and does...all by yourself."
" Then, should I get married at all?"
" Of course. Otherwise you won't know who you are. You need a woman to tell you what you're like and how stupid you can be sometimes. She's the only person who can tell you that you're a moron. Yet, she loves and tolerates you...."

Now, at this age, I know that my Uncle was right all along. And he dismissed everything, no matter how serious, with a laughter. He enjoyed life up to a ripe a old age though he remained young at heart.....