Holy Smoke!!

Yesterday I accompanied my roommates for a round of apartment searching. For the last 1 year we've been living in this amazing town house pretty close to our place of work. Now our contract has expired, we're forced to look for a new place. Not only that, its also because I will be moving out of Florida pretty soon. :-(

Its a fallout of the bleak outlook given by Motorola (my Indian company's client), which has asked many of the third-party contractors have been asked to leave. I'm one among those unfortunate who fall into that category. No, I don't intend to post about that in this post. Maybe I'll post about it later. By the way, no worries...I still have my job with my Indian company. (One of the joys of sub-contracted labor..I guess) :-)

So, we hired a car from our favourite (because its the nearest - about 4 miles from our house) AVIS and set off. We finalized on an apartment which was rather pretty and the patio was overlooking a small man-made pond. Not only that the rent was nearly 400 USD lesser than our current house. I'm glad that although I might not get to stay in the new apartment, my roommates allowed me also to be a part of the decision making process. :-)

Anyways, so as we were driving back, a car passed by us and I just happened to look into the passing car. I saw that a lady was driving the car and another lady was sitting next to her and there were two kids in the rear seat of the car. Both our cars stopped at a traffic light and I saw that the lady in the co-driver's seat was actually smoking. I was livid!!! The point of the post emerges!!!

You have kids sitting at the back of the car and you - being so educated and aware of the ill effects of smoking - are still smoking. Kids being kids will definitely see that and might get tempted to try it out. Wow!! you're setting such a great example for the kids sitting in the backseat.

The first time I became "aware" of smoking would be around the 4th or 5th standard/grade. My uncle WAS a chain smoker. I emphasize the word "was" because he says he's now rid of the habit. I emphasize the words "he says" because one can never be sure with addicted smokers that they've actually stopped the damn thing!

I've been brought up in an environment where I've been taught that tobacco is bad for health. My dad does not smoke, does not drink, but he chews tobacco. My mom - a complete teetotaller. Of course her upbringing was very strict and back in the 60s/70s these vagaries were not as accessible to the youth as it is now.

During my school days, I also remember a TV advt, a rock song sung by Gary Lawyer, (dont remember the full advt, only the last phrase, perhaps the most important ones) which goes - "Then I realized I had paid a price, with a cigarette in my hand, I was a DEAD man". The picturization is also awesome, until before the last phrase, its shown that a human hand is holding a burning cigarette and when the words - "DEAD man" were sung, the hand changes to a skeleton. MAN!! that perfectly conveys what you intend to inform.

So all throughout my school days the words "Smoking is bad" echoed through my ears. I entered junior college and I was ragged in the college canteen. One of my seniors smoked and to show off his so-called seniority blew out all the cigarette smoke on my face.

I coughed badly and could not control at all. I just could not stop. I could not stand up straight. My eyes had become red and my cheeks too. I could not breathe properly. Seeing me struggling so bad, the seniors panicked and ran off. My friend then brought the canteen owner who helped me on my feet, made me lie down on one of the tables, washed my face with cold water and also gave some to drink. I felt much much better.

That day I resolved that I will never ever smoke. A resolution which I am yet to break!

During my passage through junior college, engineering college, post graduate diploma, and now nearly 7 years of work, I have known a lot of people who are addicted to smoking, but I absolutely HATE it to the core. Now, thinking back, I'm so glad that the college ragging incident happened to me. Its because of that incident that I didnt get tempted into trying smoking. I'm also glad that none of my friends forced me to try it, but at the same time I've been strong enough to resist all temptations.

I also have strong feelings about others smoking in my presence.

• I hate people who smoke when they're eating.
• I hate people who smoke in front of kids.
• I hate people who smoke and blow out the smoke in my face.
• I hate people who smoke in my car.

I make it a very strong point not to allow any tobacco when anyone is sitting in my car.

In fact one day when I picked up dad from his work, he asked me to stop in front of a pan shop. I stopped and he bought some tobacco and put it in his mouth. Before he stepped into the car I told him to spit everything out otherwise he cant sit inside. He just laughed it off and sat inside. The moment he did this, I got absolutely livid. I pulled out the keys and told him, unless he spits out the whole tobacco or finishes eating it, I am not going to drive. I just walked off with the keys. Finally, he relented and he spat out everything and after that we drove off.

Like with my dad above I sometimes go to the extreme to get my friends out of the smoking habit. This leads to a big tiff between my friends and me. For example, some days earlier I had an argument with my friend about smoking. This guy smokes 7-8 cigarettes a day. One day he got a call from his wife and before he started to speak he cautioned me not to mention about his smoking.

After his call was over, I asked him whether his family knows that he smokes. He said they dont. I asked him why does he not tell them. He got pissed and asked me why do I not tell my family that I visit strip clubs. My reasoning was simple, visiting or not visiting strip clubs was a "Moral" issue. It doesnt harm your body in any way. Just harms your pocket. ;-)

Smoking on the other hand ruins your lungs. I told him, I can earn back the money I've spent on strippers and strip clubs, but he cannot "grow" his lungs once they are ruined, can he?? God forbid, if he's diagnosed with some serious medical condition and his family comes to know of his smoking habit then, would it not hurt his family?? Next I asked him, what will he do if his wife also hides the fact that she smokes, from him. His answer was he has full faith in his wife. So I asked him, doesn't his wife have full faith in him. He said yes. Then I said, so by not telling her that he smokes, he's commiting a breach of faith.

I asked him what if he becomes a father and his son finds out that his father smokes and starts smoking taking inspiration from his father. At that time how can he ask his son to stop smoking when he himself is setting a bad example. For all these questions, he just retorted back for arguments' sake.

The way the conversation proceeded, made me realize that ultimately its the individuals' choice. They can live their life in good health or they can **** it up. So now-a-days I refrain from such debates. All these people who smoke just look for an excuse to delay their abstinence. People say, I'll stop smoking when I get married, when I become a father and blah...blah...blah. Very few people actually do it when the time comes.

So any of you guys who smoke are reading this, its my humble plea to you all. Stop smoking. Make life easier to live for yourself, your family and every near and dear one around you.