NO TOBACCO DAY

 It was a Sunday morning; I woke up late and turned in my bed in search of a cigarette. While turning my pillow I felt a peculiar burnt smell which was not a pleasant one. I tried to find out what was the smell due to? I rubbed my head with my hand and smelt. It was the same nasty smell more intense. It was the smell of cigarette smoke!

 On Saturday night I was with two of my friends in a small stuffy French pub where men and women smoked, drunk and danced all night. We also participated in those activities and enjoyed the night. It was at 3 am, my friends dropped me at my apartment. Somehow I could open the door and entered the room. After smoking a cigarette, I slept.

 The puffing in the pub by so many people stuffed the smoke into every one dress, body including the exposed hair of the head. I never realized the harmful nature of tobacco smoke, but I thought it was fun and enjoyable.

 It was when I left for France, 40 years ago; I started smoking foreign cigarettes to start with. Later when I came back to India, the habit continued till 1996. When I used to travel in train, I used to smoke without any respect for the co-passengers - men, women or children.

 I was deriving a kind of pleasure in taking out a cigarette from the pack and light it either with a lighter which I brought from France or later with a match stick made in Sivakasi. I left smoking three times on the eves of New Year. It hardly lasted for a month or two. During this period I used to have good apatite and put on weight. I read somewhere one of the consequences of quitting smoking is an increase in body weight.

In spite of the advice of my wife, sons and daughter, I could not quit smoking. In 1996, one fine morning, I decided myself with great determination and willpower ‘not to smoke’ from that day. Fortunately, it continues to date. When I travel later in trains, I could smell the cigarette or beedi smoke coming from a long distance. When I used to smoke in those days, I never could smell the smoke coming out of my cigarette. Now I have become so sensitive to the bad smell of cigarette smoke. I realized how harmful I was to those who travelled with me in those days. Also, I felt sorry that how much displeasure I would have caused to those men, women and children who never asked me to stop smoking. What a shameful life I lived making others uncomfortable. They would have cursed me in their mind. 

Two years ago when I was travelling on the train, a middle-aged man was smoking in the compartment as I used to do earlier. I saw a young lady, came to him and requested him to stop smoking. The man who was smoking felt very bad and extinguished the bit of burning cigarette and threw it out. I was happy that such an incident did not happen to me in those days! Everyone has the freedom to express themselves to safeguard public health. That was what that young lady did boldly.

 Tobacco consumption in whatever form is harmful for health. It appears that China is the largest producer and consumer of tobacco. There are 350 million smokers in China according to an article published in a newspaper. It is a common ritual in Chinese weddings it adds. Banning tobacco cultivation itself is one way of putting off puffing. Increasing the cost of cigarettes and their associates by imposing taxes is another measure many Governments took.

The Finance Minister in every year budget speech made it a point to add tax for cigarettes and tobacco products in the past. The Government gave the statutory warning in cigarette packets itself saying cigarette smoking is injurious to health to create awareness.  One of the health ministers of the Government of India brought a rule that smoking scenes should not be shown in cinema. These are measures to create awareness among the public not to smoke.

 The tobacco business is the biggest money earner in many countries. Millions of people are employed in both production and processing of tobacco. Considering the economic importance of income and the creation of employment for countrymen and women, it becomes a sensitive issue for governments to bring strict rules to abolish the use of tobacco. However, health consciousness among the public has brought down smoking to a considerable extent. It is a good sign; even without imposing hard rules, people themselves change for the best. We hope the World No Tobacco Day on 31 May every year will remind people to wind up the bad habit of smoking and other ways of consuming tobacco. – NARA

(Written some years ago on the No Tobacco Day)