Can you mimic your own stammering?

Do you love acting? Mimicry? Do you enjoy taking off your class teacher? Your sister? And that geek in the class? Acting is a great science and art. You must know your subject and you must be able to take on the entire persona or those few minutes. Everything to boot. Above all you must enjoy every moment of it, while you are up there, center of every one’s attention. Of course when others imitate us, it feels very bad. It hurts deeply- because stammering is a health condition and no one should make fun of health condition or a disability, however funny or minor. But suppose you were to do a mimicry of yourself- just for fun? Instead of others laughing at us, why cant we laugh at ourselves? Just in a game?

Yes, we can and those who do, soon recover from their stammering. Why? Because, if you know how to do something consciously, at will- you can also stop it whenever you want to, at will! Yes, that is the whole idea: bring your stammering under your conscious control and have fun while doing so! But yes, it needs courage. LOT OF COURAGE. But who says stammerers are cowards? Here is a true story of such a brave child.

Case study: Imroz was very naughty from his very childhood. Always happy and up to some mischief. He was in class 7 and was good at extra curricular activities. He was so so in studies. He could make out at least fifty kind of sounds with his mouth - machine gun fire, Shaktiman taking off, a pig and a dog fighting, a duckling refusing to have its bath etc. etc. But students loved when he took off squeaky voice of Maths teacher. He was also very popular for mimicking the arts madam. But yes, he used to feel bad when someone teased him about his stammer, even though his stammer was very mild.

When the annual function of the school drew close, his class mates requested him to do a mimicry show. He did a ten minute show which was very popular; He took off many teachers and even Bollywood actors. No one in the school minded. In fact everyone had a good laugh, even the teachers he had mimicked congratulated him.

Some days later, he went to see the school counselor because he had failed an his exams again. The counselor made routine exploration about his academics and family scene. Finally he looked up and said:

Imroz, you are an intelligent boy. How is it that it is not reflecting in your studies? Why? Your teacher says that you dont participate in class too much?..

At last Imroz accepted that whenever he asks a question in the class, he is afraid that teacher and other students might laugh. It actually happened about three years ago. Since then he has been keeping low and quiet. He just tries to pass the exam. He no more studies at home because, what is the point- when he cant stand up and answer and shine in the class. He would rather have fun outside the class, pull people’s leg and make his friends laugh. As he did in the last annual function.

Suddenly the counselor came up with something surprising:

Okay, Imroz, can you do the mimicry again? Can you mimic me for a change?

Imroz could not believe this but egged on by the counselor, he stood up and did an impromptu acting of Mr Kumar, the counselor. He smiled and came up with another weird idea:

Imroz you are good at mimicry. It takes intelligence and power of observation. Now tell me, can you mimic your own self? Your speech? If you can, I will say- hats off to you! Do you have guts?

Imroz smiled nervously – but was not going to back out. He knew his courage was under scanner now. He tried but was not sure how accurate was his acting. When he finished, the counselor asked him:

How many marks will you give to yourself for this mimicry? And how much to the last one?

Imroz did not answer but he knew in his heart that he had performed poorly on the last task.

He went home but kept on thinking about it. Next Saturday, the counselor asked him to do the same thing- mimic his own stammer, but with a smile this time. A few more times, he was actually smiling, while doing so. He had tried to study his stammer using a mirror at home. Gradually he was doing it better, more accurate. He was also beginning to understand what he did in those moments of difficulty- the thoughts, the feelings and sudden freezing and fluttering of eyelids like the wings of a butterfly. Above all, he was no more ashamed of his stammering. He could have fun with it! It was okay to stammer. It was okay to mimic his own stammering. Why not?

After about three months, one day his father mentioned- Imroz, you are no more stammering! Certainly not as much as you used to. Now he was talking and asking questions in the class too. His scores improved as a result. He had one more meeting with the counselor. This time, Mr Kumar- told him something very interesting: Dont mimic others. Whenever you want to have some fun- mimic yourself! That is what brave boys do.

Practical Hints:

1. To mimic yourself you must know how you stammer. Use a mirror or a phone camera. When you mimic yourself – do it with joy and fun. Do it alone first, then with some friends and ask them to rate your performance on a scale of 1-10.

2. Do it as part of a role play- in a small group of close friends or siblings.

3. Initially it would be difficult and painful but if you persist, you could soon be having positive feelings. You could separate yourself from your stammering and view it objectively. Yes, you and your stammering are two different things. They are superimposed for a short while. Not for ever, though.

4. Initially, your mimicry may turn into a real thing! The horror! Soon, a time may come, when you develop such self control that you can turn even a real stammer into a fake one and stop it at will. THAT is the ultimate goal of this exercise.

5. Think of the whole life as a big drama- and your stammering a small sub-plot in a bigger comedy. You are just an artist- not a stammerer. You are just playing out a role. Have fun while doing it.