LAUGH LINE
commonly known, lives up to her adopted
name. She always had been chipper, a cheer-
ful personality, but never knew or thought
that her contagious smile, laughter, guffaw
could also heal. Sheetal was a sociology lec-
turer in a college before she became a clown.
She took permission from the Delhi health
ministry to clown around at Chacha Nehru
Bal Chikit salaya with six volunteers. The
exp erience was so rewarding that she transi-
tioned from a weekend clown to fulltime
joker, and set up the NGO, Clownselors.
For many children, medical clowning has led
to breakthroughs in recovery. Preetika Garg,
a 42-year-old clown in Delhi, recounts one such
inc ident. “A four-year-old girl was very sad afterher surgery. I tried to engage her with my regular
antics, but nothing worked. Then I took out a
wooden toy with five hens bobbing their heads
to peck at rice. Captivated by the toy, she gave
out a smile.”
Lately, medical clowning is becoming a career
option and many institutes are providing pro-
fessional instruction. Fif Fernandez, one of the
founders of the MediClown Academy in
Pondicherry, seeks to train people to become
“clown doctors” and establish it as a recognised
profession. “India has one of the highest rates
of stress, depression and suicides in the world,”
she says. We want to lower this by sharing joy,
playfulness, mindfulness and love. We want
to create heart-to-heart connections to trans-LAUGHTER
THERAPY
Pravin Tulpule at
Tata Memorial
Hospital, Mumbai58 OUTLOOK 5 August 2019
APOORVA SALKADE