Today is World No Tobacco Day but don’t worry, I’m not going to try and wean you off the butt by telling you all about the terrible things that the habit is doing to your innards and entrails (those utterly depressing ads featuring low cost actors do that each time you watch a film so I will not). Let’s just look at the many (usually stupid) reasons people start smoking and perhaps you will find your own personal (stupid) reason in there?
You thought he looked cool
Now Amitabh Bachchan lounging back in that chair softly drawling tum log mujhe dhoond ho aur main tumhara intezaar kar raha hun in Deewar with that nonchalant bidi between his lips was cool… but guys, that was the 1970’s! Keep up will you!
Because you could
You just wanted to try it on for size didn’t you? And then it became something that you needed to keep your hands occupied or a necessity for when you had to take a dump? Say it with me… stupid!
You thought she looked cool
Come on! That was just peer pressure or work-peer-pressure… Rachel didn’t want to smoke and didn’t even know how to!
Because you wanted to hide your face?
Did you imagine you looked better through that haze of smoke? You did, didn’t you! Like all those awesome bad guys in all those B&W films.
Because of that dude
So there was a paan ki dukaan at the nukkad where those cool dudes hung out. And you either wanted to be one of them or just like them. So basically you decided to start something to look like someone you are not. Doesn’t look that cool now does it?
Because it just felt that good
OK, so you’re addicted now… you do have my sympathies. But get a grip! Where’s your self control. Even this guy overcame his habit. Well…mostly.
You just wanted to fit in
Couldn’t you just have worn harem pants, or purple shoes or sported a Mohawk, got that Satan tattoo or whatever damn fool thing ‘everyone’ was doing at the time to fit in? At least those weren’t going to kill you, but hey, it’s your quickly ending life.
You thought beedis were less harmful
You poor, misguided, and silly human being. Did you actually believe her when she told you beedi jalaile?
The billiards room smelt of cigarette smoke
I know it can be difficult to resist… the club, that billiards room with its enticing air conditioned atmosphere… and those super cool dudes (there they are again!) rubbing chalk on their cues… and the atmosphere redolent with the rich aroma of cigarette smoke.
Gudang Garam
Your friends all said how delish that clove taste of Gudang Garam was or that Menthol Kool feeling was just irresistible…they fell for that slick marketing and then went on to ensure that you did too. After all how could you possibly not follow the crowd?
They still market that crap to us
We wonder how many people are watching the new generation of cool stars and getting addicted to tobacco products. And the question that we’d have to ask Ajay Devgn… who currently peddles paan masala: What are you thinking man?
But more importantly, we’d love to hear from the smokers if they would do it all over again if they could go back in time to that moment when they made that decision to ‘try’ smoking.
Author – Reena Daruwalla
