“Staying in a housing society of over 500 families, I was amazed to see that only a handful of people would start their mornings with a walk or any other form of exercise. Women would rarely step out of their houses and those who did step out would merely smile at each other. Laughter definitely was nowhere in sight. Having been a yoga practitioner for a long time, I knew that laughter is the best medicine. I realized that I wanted to inject a dose of this medicine into the lives of the people around me.

One day, I saw a few women doing yoga in the open area of the building. I smiled and joined the group. Soon, I introduced the group to my laughter therapy. One fine day, the exercise began with five women laughing out aloud for no apparent reason. The sound of laughter surprised our neighbours. They peeped out from their windows and balconies. The next day was no different; we again had spectators curiously watching us, probably making fun of us. A week passed and people started waking up to the sound of laughter, regular like an alarm. Slowly, more people started coming down from their apartments to the common area. The group grew with time. Some of them told me about way they thought my therapy was helping them.

A lot of us now wait for the next morning to laugh away our blues. Everyday at 7 am, a group of women are found laughing their hearts out. People call me the laughing girl. "Let's laugh together." This makes me happy and a little proud, and of course, I go on laughing.”