Name: Mita Banik (picture left)

Age: 57

Claim to fame: Laughing non-stop is this bespectacled homemaker’s forte. She has won the laughter competition organised by Shyambazar Uttar Prantik Club for the past two years. In 2007, she laughed continuously for 57 seconds. This year, she clocked 44 seconds to keep the crown. Banik has also won the laughing competition of the Tallah Jheel Park Laughing Therapy Centre for three consecutive years since 2003. She trains about 50 people daily at Tallah Park to laugh out stress.

Early success: Banik, who was suffering from several ailments, joined the club as a laughter trainee a decade ago on the advice of an acquaintance. The benefits were immediate. Her concentration saw her becoming a trainer at the club in two years.

Banik says that a 45-minute laughter session every morning is the source of her energy. “The body and the mind should be in tune. Otherwise there is no point in doing the exercise.”

It is not as simple as it appears. “There are three kinds of laughter. In all of them you have to hold your breath.” The sessions are interspersed by deep breathing.

“Whatever be the negative emotion, it can be vented out through laughter. There need not be a reason for laughing but if one person starts laughing, it spreads to others,” she says.

Inspiration: Getting rid of her breathing problems has kept Banik going for so many years. She was on steroids for many years before she took up laughing. “But practice every day is a must,” says the hard taskmaster. She has, however, inspired her grandchildren Aiswarya and Abhishek to learn laughing along with their friends.

“In the annual function of our club, we receive celebrity guests not with songs or dance but laughter,” says Banik, who wants more laughing competitions in the city.