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When The Supreme Court has banned on smoking in public places(as defined by the court of the country- a place of commons like workplace, office areas, campuses, shopping malls, theatres, cinema halls, bus stand and blah blah, where the crowd sprawls day in and day out)... still I see many people do smoke happily and carefreely….. salutes to them then.
This picture is dedicated to all those who smoke and are/were reputed FAGGERS... And when they are sent to the "No man's land" by the act "BAN ON SMOKING"...
Of course I am not a great supporter of chain smokers, though a couple of my friends are branded smokers. When today I am posting this, one person comes to mind at the immediate spur of time. That’s none else than SAPS(Saptarishi)and how can I forget his very close friend Janki.. A perfect 9/10 goes to them for the act of fagging.It wasn’t pretty shocking to me when i heard and infact saw Janki smoking inside the campus, though many guys and gurls were utterly taken aback.. Well i assured myself with the truth that she is a great gurl and can be a nice person by heart whatsoever people rumoured against her in the corridors. And poor girl was sentenced by her H.O.D for the act. Others to count are Anup and Pawan. Not to forget the new crazy guys like Kripa and Madhukar, Venky, Kundu... Then was my dad who was once a chain smoker and left smoking some 13 years back. However, I believe he also enjoys a fag at times but once in a while isn’t a crime also. I always wonder why my mom screamed then. But if he does every day, she has the right to shout and yell on him. Forget the old folk for a while. Coming to new GenX , one girl whom I can rememeber very clearly other than Janki and Kripa was Payal, my junior in my M.Sc days. These people of course enjoyed the act and never felt guilty about it.
And of course how can I forget the writer of this article, myself... Once upon a time, I was also a great fagger. But that was for a short while say about six and half months and then now of course a rare/often smoker as of the fact that I am married now and my husband doesn’t like me to be indulged in the act. Sometimes it reminds me the fun I had with the smoke, the drawings of my imagination running wild, where the space of darkness used to be my canvas and the smoke of the burning cigarette colored the imaginations. I have drawn a tigress lost in the valley, a rafflesia about to die, a river crying to meet the sea, a baby on a lotus leaf, a ball of anacondas mating, a man walking upside down on the vertical wall, a golden orb spider releasing its prey instead of gulping it down her throat, many fairies dancing in the jungle, a kamasutra redefined, a wizard carrying a sack full of small babies, a witch going to spell on Dhwaneet and he begging for rescue, a bizarre road inside the forest where the wolves are your friends, a lonesome town where none stays other than dead humans, a witch flying on its broom to the ravines of the campus to catch saw scaled vipers……. Blah blah. And they kept continuing. Infact secrets of dark heart were revealed someway like this.Of course, at times, they were normal paintings as like restricted on a canvas and were perfect artistic though they used to get over in 10 to 20 minutes on the space-canvas where as I, in real, take months to complete one painting. Today while I am writing about myself, I wonder -Had those weird dark imaginations be painted on canvas… who knows what they would reveal. May be a psycho’s mind, or may be a creative witch or just a derailed brain. Whatever that was, I loved those days and realized that a lonesome life is much better than having someone so-called “special” and so I should thank the person who made me feel so and for sure made me lonesome in my life till day.
Sometimes I ask myself if I was justified. Well the answer I always get is yes and I don’t regret for being a smoking chimney. Kaash I can get those lonesome dark nights back again. But now I have left it. Well not true for sure as somewhere in my inner heart of hearts, I want a lonely terrace where I can sit, puff out my imaginations and smoke to celebrate my freedom. That would in fact be great and mesmerizing with a cup of hot coffee in the winter nights, sitting under the cold dark sky, searching for Ursa major, Ursa minor and Orion and Saptarshi(well they are the constellations, I’m for sure fascinated towards them).
While other brands say it that “Smoking is injurious to health”, the best amongst all was Davidoff packet with a clear cut message “Smokers die younger” and Davidoff Lights is for sure my favorite, thou of lately I also like the American brand ESSE. Cigars esp. flavored ones are always welcome, most favorite of all being the vanilla and coffee, thou strawberry, mango, peach, chocolate and raspberry are of different tastes.
Back to the reality, I am deprived of smoking as that’s injurious to my weak lungs and so I do need to rethink every time I light a cigarette. I can never forget few friends like Rahul, Manish, Pranav, Raj, and Anupam making me feel so queenly and their sincere efforts to stop my bad habit. Out of all, is Mr. Gangadharan. Rahul had been a darling with all his efforts, all the way from London to make me stop smoking. I owe him a lot for that love, affection n sincere concern he then used to have and now also has. He has been a sort of pen friend. Calling IST calls and talking for hours and hours , just to make me feel nice about myself, and stop destroying ownself, only few good hearted persons can do and Rahul’s efforts were worthy to a great extent. He infact had got the idea, a sort of telepathy, that I was going to fag now bored of my lonesome life. And then the phone used to ring. But I have lied many times, as I had already taken the dose of that particular day’s poison for my lungs. Once Raj told me- “Dear amri, your strawberry lips are getting brown. Stop that smoke chimney as I love to see your strawberry colored cute small lips, chattering all the time”. Anupam said- “None will kiss you if you continue with that slow poison as they will get bitter taste”. Thanks to Chai as he didn’t hate me, kissed and loved me the most though at times I still do smoke against his will. But I always want him to feel that happiness which I get when I smoke. And I am sure one day he will.
However, the truth is I loved it and still love it, though the act of smoking started with a guilt feeling and don't know when and how I feel addicted for it. To be honest, not addicted, but i feel "break-free" and in my worlds and slowly i have learnt to enjoy that slow bitter poison. Not I, in fact all who blow the burnt smell of tobacco in the air, really relish the feel esp. releasing the hot smoke through the nostrils, they all love it. I sometimes feel there should be a smokers club where people can talk about , feel about and enjoy cigars and cigarettes…why cant that be possible if there does exist the Tobacco Research Center…ha..ha….I am sure if Chai(my better/bitter half) reads it, he is going to kill me. Never mind, I can write anything here. Even death accepted for the great cause of smoking and for all those farmers who grow tobacco plants with such efforts and the researchers who work on the hybrids of tobacco plant, those biologists who work on TMV virus…. However, the society where we stay isn’t that broad enough to realize that. And now that the law “ban on smoking” is passed, I feel my thoughts are getting encaged.
And I still see all those people enjoy their puffs they used to do…. They still smoke it out and no regrets for that then.So do I….!! A campaign against “No Smoking” where we/those people should behave neutral and just balanced. Hip- hip- hurray..Hip- hip- hurray….hip- hip-Hurray as that’s gonna be “The Smokers Club”…!!! I wonder if that's going to happen.
(Memoirs of those old days-I)
