Increasing the value of humor in our lives
Humor is the spice of life. Without humor, there will always be tension, people will start behaving like lunatics, and it will become impossible for some one to reach out to the other person at all.
Humor should be encouraged at all levels. At school, at colleges, at homes, and just about everywhere.
We can also devote some time to imagine how to infuse humor into any situation. When I used to work with a bank, the employees who had a good relationship with one particular customer who infused a great deal of humor, and most of this was all healthy jokes.
The person under reference had married a girl from Kerala, and most of the jokes were about how he went about establishing relationship with his wife. Each of the new words that he learned in Malayalam, became a big joke and fortunately, there was one employee from Kerala, who used to be the translator. Since it was a love marriage, the parents of the man, employed with a local company as an accountant, ditched him and all that he had was his wife to talk to. His wife's parents had approved of his marriage.
Every single day, when he presented himself to deposit cash on behalf of the company, or take a demand draft and so on, it would be great fun. Literally every employee knew this particular customer, more so, since the firm had all its money in current account, only with the branch. At times, the owner of the company also joined the fun. It was terrific humor all the way.
It all started when the man had gone to Kerala on a holiday. The man had fallen sick, and the girl's family had seen the pitiable situation of this man. They had volunteered to help, and our man was constantly under the care of the girl. Ultimately, the relationship grew so close, that the man eventually married her in Kerala, the opposition from parents notwithstanding.
It was superb humor all the way. Right from the day when he was admitted in the hospital to how she saw him, and how he spoke in Tamil and she in Malayalam, and so on. In fact, she picked up Tamil much faster, and was soon a regular customer at the branch too. She also joined in the fun, particularly taking pot shots at her own husband, about his miserable Malayalam!
Years later, when I was employed in Mumbai in a huge engineering organization, most of the jokes were about the short-tempered boss, whose voice and mannerisms were imitated. Worse, the boss's boss was also one who barked at people. Both of them would travel out of Mumbai at the same time, on official work. Once the work was over, it was literally chatting, with a huge amount of jokes abut both the bosses, and even other department staff joined the fun.
Humor is often about political personalities in our lives. In buses and trains, someone imitates the way some politician talks and behaves and it is humor of a very healthy kind.
In Tamil Nadu, there is one comedian of Tamil movies, who is the king of humor. His sense of timing and his ability to virtually transform humor from a very ordinary level, to something special, is a treat to watch. Since this comedian hails from Madurai, a city with a distinct culture of its own, he has been able to bring in humor of a very earthy kind, the kind of which is seen in villages of Madurai district.
In a particular movie, he would style himself as a "Dubai returned" rich man. When the hero comes to the village, he picks him on, questioning him on where he lived in Dubai. The hero had not been to Dubai at all!
The hero then turns on the heat on the comedian, chiding him for the work he was doing as a sweeper of toilets! When the comedian asks him how he knew this, the hero replies that he knows even more! The comedian now falls flat, asking him not to reveal to the villagers his work at Dubai!
Such earthy humor, in tune with the villagers and their lives, is always welcomed here, mainly because such humor has the capacity to make everyone in the audience laugh and forget all their worries. In fact, this comedian has made a come back now, and is in huge demand.
In humor, it is always essential that we do not cross boundaries, and we stick to rules. We should not tease anyone or hurt them, making jokes out of their religious habits, or personal habits and so on. In fact, in recent times, there have been a huge increase in jokes concerning sex. These movies have been rightly criticized and it is time our film makers understand that such humor will do enough damage to our society.
Simple and straight humor, often spun around our day to day lives, is quite alright. Jokes on the use of a different language, is quite alright too. It is only when the jokes cross all limits, should we be concerned.
Humor is something that can make our lives very light. It can help us make our lives full of fun, of innocent light moments and make every moment a great thing to watch. Jokes involving children is always welcome. Even when they do innocent pranks, we tend to laugh, and we tend to bond with them. This is very natural and it is very easy equation that comes up. We should encourage every day conversation with children, and it is easily possible to find innocent humor with children, very naturally.
When we increase the value of humor, we can easily spread it to others. The neighbors who have a good sense of humor, can chip in too. In fact, there are many who bring humor from their homes, from their native places, from their offices and from their families.
The best way of ensuring that humor stays with us as a way of life, is to bond with others and encourage them to talk. The more outspoken of them often tend to share lighter moments and most of these make us laugh too.
Humor has to become a part of our lives. Once it becomes so, our lives will become all that meaningful.
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