I think I have a great idea for research.....to isolate the crying gene, its hereditary linkages and decode its link  to movies.

Now I am a perennial crier.....I cry watching movies, serials, cartoons, .....anybody crying on screen, except where I know that crying is devious or villainious, will find an empathetic soul in me. And I will definitely cry along.  The tears need not be only for sad situations either.....I cry my tears of joy too. For example, in Lagaan or Chak De, I had a hearty cry when the underdogs won. Now I saw Jodha Akbar and I cried. I was not crying because it was badly made movie....I was just crying at Hrithik being so sad! I cried in Saawariya, Jab We Met, OSO....you name it and if I have seen I will have cried as well. Its pathetic!

It is embarrasing as well, to say the least. It is embarrasing to come out of the movie hall with red eyes and a redder nose and have your family or friends look at you and say, "What! You cried in this movie too?" I have always projected a very brave front and kept this quirk of my personality to myself. However, a long time back, I had gone to see "Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke" with my college friends. Its overall a happy movie. But there was a scene when Juhi Chawla goes up to the terrace to sing a song and cry. Naturally, being high on empathy, I too was silently weeping at her tragedy. At the precise moment when I choking with tears, this friend asked me to pass popcorn. I had no choice but to take the packet and squeak "Popcorn" as I passed it along. The squeak gave it away and I had four of my friends scrutinizing my face and laughing uproariously at their discovery. Yeah! I had mean , unemotional friends!! Anyways, it was downhill from there! I have tried very hard to control but I just cant stop the damn tears!

My husband has got used to them by now...it has taken him 8 years to get used to them. The first time I cried in a movie with him, he could not believe it. In the midst of my emotional trauma, the man tried to elbow me a hundred times to ask me "Are you crying?". I remember how he had chuckled! But that was then...eight years of marriage has taught him to keep his chuckles down and he doesn't question me anymore. In TZP, when I was howling, the man even held my hand. He has come a long way!

But coming back to the research angle, I also believe that it has hereditary roots. My Nani, maternal grandmother would bawl in her pallu every Sunday. Those days, DD would show movies every Sunday evening. She was quite a movie buff and would sit glued to the screen. My cousins and I would wait for emotional scenes to start, when we knew she would start crying. And we would sneak upon her just as her lip would start to quiver and her eyes well up with tears. Of course, we were scolded by everyone else for disturbing her. Well, she laughed too, at times, if the movie situation was not very intense. And then, after the highly emotional climax, she would wipe her eyes with her pallu and announce, "This was the best movie ever." The more she cried in the movie, the better she declared it to be. Needless to say, Meena Kumari was one of her favourite actresses.

My mother, on the other hand, is a very strong, practical lady but she too is a crier...although a very discreet one. You can only catch her very rarely. That may be also because she is not into movies that much. But she too cries. She has perfected the art of crying without making any sound and she denies vehemently if you point out her red eyes. She claims they are red because of the strain of staring at the screen. I know better....one of these days, I am going to catch her, all teary-eyed. May be I should watch TZP with her!

The best part is that we are not cry babies in real life. For example, something drastic and heart breaking has to happen for me to cry. My mother would rather make anyone else cry than cry herself, in real life. I prefer to stay away from emotional situations but inspite of me, if I find myself in one, either I go cold or crack pathetic jokes or run away. If none of the aforesaid is possible, I grit my teeth and let my eyes sting just as the tears form. But they dont tend to roll down freely. But show me a movie and I can cry a river! So what is it with crying and the movies? 

Now I watch my sons as they watch movies. Sometimes, I catch the flicker of empathy in their eyes. They do make sad faces while watching a sad scene. But they are no way close to crying. May be they need to grow up a little to exhibit the full potential of this gene. My husband dreads the day, the three of us will have a crying session at the movies. I, on the other hand, look forward to a nice cry with my sons...that will be the best movie ever!!