C-R-Y-!

If you're wondering if its a campaign for "Child Relief and You ", you are wrong. Though I would love to blog about it (maybe in the near future), right now I meant the literal sense of the word - "cry". Someone said "Smiles form the channels of a future tear.” I can see you nodding away, thinking to yourself "How true!".

Today, I fell down and hurt my leg.Actually fell into a sump.I don't want to elaborate on that.I luckily escaped with a scratch and a minor swell . I had to go to a hospital for a TT injection and coincidentally, one of the physicians was a paediatrician and that was the only clinic close to my residence. I reached the place and was greeted with the cry for help - mostly from kids. I was astonished as I had never seen so many kids at one go, and all "crying". It was faster than a nuclear chain reaction. What was even more amusing was that only one child at a time was injected.Watching that child triggered the one next to it to cry, and the next and next and so on, resulting in the fastest chain reaction in history. I was so amused that I forgot that all the mothers were throwing me daggers with their looks, as I was smiling at the crying kids. Gee..couldn't help it..! I went back in time to an hour back when I had turned into Humpty and had a great fall. Though I fell completely inside with my hands stretching out, and the depth wasn't much, my dad caught me in a jiffy. But still that shock sort of triggered uneasy emotions and I cried- sorry Wailed like crazy. I can laugh now, thinking about it. So sitting in the wooden bench at the clinic, waiting for the doctor, I was wondering what actually made people cry. What evoked the tears? What was the scientific reason behind it? After the injection, I came home and started searching about the science behind tears. Wikipedia and few other sites had the answers. Here's what I found..

Tears are a liquid produced by the body's process of lacrimation to clean and lubricate the eyes. The word lacrimation may also be used in a medical or literary sense to refer to crying.Tears may be classified into 3 types:

*Basal Tears

*Reflex Tears

*Psychic Tears

Basal Tears :

Tears are continually produced in small quantities by the Tear Glands, which are located on the outer side of each eye, slightly above the eye and underneath the eyelid. Tears, which are spread evenly over the front surface of the eye during blinking, clean and lubricate the eye. An important component of tears is lysozyme, a chemical that inhibits bacterial growth on the eye's surface. Some of the tears evaporate, but the remainder are drained into the nose through the Tear Duct, keeping the nose moist. Lysozyme from the tears prevents bacterial growth in the nose as well.

Reflex Tears :

These result from the irritation of the eye by foreign particles, or from the presence of irritant substances such as onion vapours, tear gas or pepper spray in the eye's environment. These reflex tears attempt to wash out irritants that may have come into contact with the eye.

Psychic tears :

These tears have more to do with emotions and hurt - both physical and mental. They are also caused due to depression and emotional stress.However the chemical composition of the tears in this case is different. An interesting discovery was made by Dr. William H. Frey II, a biochemist at the St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center in Minnesota.On analysis, they found that emotional tears contained more of the protein-based hormones, prolactin, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and leucine enkephalin (natural painkiller), all of which are produced by our body when under stress. It seems as if the body is getting rid of these chemicals through tears. No wonder we feel better after a good cry!

The discovery of facts from http://www.wikipedia.com/ and http://www.scienceiq.com/ :

#1. "The crocodile tears syndrome" is an uncommon consequence of recovery from Bell's palsy where faulty regeneration of the facial nerve causes sufferers to shed tears while eating.

#2.Keratoconjunctivitis sicca , more commonly known as dry eye, is a very common disorder of the tear film. Paradoxically, sufferers can experience watering of the eyes .

#3. Here's my favourite ;) . An insincere display of grief or dishonest remorse is called crocodile tears,from the ancient anecdote that crocodiles would pretend to weep while luring or devouring their prey.

#4. Chewing on gum while cutting onions can help a person from stop producing tears. Try it next time you chop onions. I don't know how far this is true. My granny says that the onion vapours increase the sharpness in sight . Same with the smoke from the flames while performing a "homam" during housewarming ceremonies.

#5. In space you cannot cry because there is no gravity to make the tears flow. HA -HA -HA...!

And nOW.. for my theory :

I think tears are a way of expressing helplessness. The reflex action arising out of confusion. Like when you suddenly meet with an accident, get hurt, there's a moment when you can feel pain at various angles. Like how I felt today. My stomach, legs, ankle, knee , elbow were all competing and when someone asked me where it hurt, I din't know where and I cried. Adding to the effect of helping me in my transformation into a child, was my mother, who said "Hayo evlo valikardho!" (meaning- Oh my God, How much it would pain") . That was the signal, and slowly the confused tears started making sense and became a wail and finally reached the peak of the vocal chords into the cry of a banshee.