“I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”—Walt Whitman, Leaves Of Grass

  I happened yesterday upon one of those scented Indian boutiques specializing in  colourful robes, veils and assorted ladies wear, gold jewellery, trinkets, baubles and wooden statuettes of male and female gods. Sitar music wafted hand in hand with the incense over the narrow aisles and I wandered about looking for a Laughing Buddha as I wasn’t sure what I’d done with my last one, where it might have escaped to during one of my recent moves. 

  Sure I have the standard machine made cheapy in yogic meditation but I figure it would be nice to balance his goofy grinned solemnity with a bit of enlightened levity. 

  After all it never does to take things too seriously. 

  And laughter so they say is the best medicine. 

  Writing that another association comes to mind: wasn’t the lesson Hermann Hesse’s dour fifty year old near suicidal Harry Haller obliged to learn in the book Steppenwolf how to laugh? 

  Fortunately I’ve never had to learn that lesson. It has always come naturally for me.  

  I remember riding on a bus somewhere in the Caribbean with my four or five year old son and my ex-mother in law. We had booked an excursion off a cruise ship but most of the extended family group had fallen ill with intestinal discomfort and had chosen to stay in their cabins. Which is funny in itself as my son and I were the only members of the thirteen strong group not affected, hehehe….

  Anyway, as we jounced along my son pointed to the electrical wire strung upon poles bordering the road and asked if it was a zip line. There had been much to do on the ship about an adventurous zip line excursion available. 

  “No,” I replied, “that’s a zap line.” 

  The ex-mother in law and my son failed to see the scintillating brilliance in my rejoinder but I laughed enough for the three of us and was still chuckling when the bus deposited us back on the wharf. 

  As it turned out yesterday’s boutique didn’t have a Laughing Buddha so I guess I’ll just have to keep looking.