Tuesday, 31 May 2016


We often talk about causes of smoking, the various health issues and social implications that are associated with it. Is it all about it? Or, there are many other aspects of the scenario? If so, why don't anybody talks about them? Are we afraid? Perhaps, unaware? - Why then...???

We all know very well - today is the "World No Tobacco Day 2016" and I am here talking about smoking and the various issues concerning it. Everywhere we see people, from all fields, showing their concerns about those people whom we affectionately addressed as "smokers". But...

Think for a minute... think well for a minute... do they really/genuinely deserve the attention that we are attributing to them? We tend to empathize or sympathize with them. - Why???

It make no sense at all to me that someone come forward and try to justify such an act with whatsoever possible reason that he/she may come up with...

That guy or lady for whom we are all showing concerns for; do you think he/she is unaware of the various issues that smoking causes? Do you think he/she is not enough educated to know about that? Well, my friends, just see around yourself - how many colleagues you know, whom you meet everyday and work in the same field as you smokes? People with Diplomas and Degrees and much more are on the list, not to mention those who are actively in the medical sector like Doctors, Nurses and others who are directly related to the field. You don't need a Night Vision Millitary Binoculars to notice that...!!! Or do you..???

Today I am here not to plead to you to stop/quit smoking because it affect your health etc... I personally just don’t care for you...!!! You want to die??? That's absolutely fine for me and all the people out there - at least the problem of overporpulation in the world will be solved. You are not caring for yourself in the first place. Why should I or anyone else do so...???

But... but for heaven sake don't kill innocent people who didn't asked for it. Yes. You - all the smokers out there - are technically murderers. According to the WHO factsheet 339 July 2015, 165,000 children died due to exposure to second hand smoke and more than 600,000 non-smokers which we may actually refer to passive smokers die every year. What are you doing??? You are killing so many innocent people annually. Do you realise that...???

I will tell you a story that actually happened to me some time earlier: I was there sitting in the common mess and enjoying my lunch in the company of my colleagues and friends. The mess is not a five star hotel lobby - it's only about 32 meter squares. There happened to be a Senior Nursing Officer who works with us. He just drop in the mess. Drew a cigarette from his pocket, light it up and there we saw the chimney of The Orient Express. The behavior shocked me. That's for sure. But what literrally blew my mind out was the reaction of my colleagues; or rather should I say the "no-reaction" from them??? I couldn't conceive how they all were able to behave so normally as if nothing is happening - there was someone there in the same room where 15 people are having lunch and 1 murderer broke in and start killing all of us. No one reacted to that. Fascinating... really amazing... isn't it...???

Well... That was my short story which actually is an anecdote. Leaving that behind....

Do you think chanting mantras like "smoking kills, stop smoking, smoking causes cancer and heart diseases, smoking leads to impotency, etc, etc..." really make people quit or reduce smoking or at least discourages them from continuing??? - they just don't care what you are saying or what you are doing or what you mean. Actually they are right. Why should they listening to you after all?
The word "stop" and "quit" itself is of a negative nature. It is very well known that people react the same way you act toward them - if you will swear at anyone, he won't come up and give you a hug and tell you "I love you bro...", unless that guy is high on weed. Researchers in psychology has stated that if you want a positive response from somebody, you need to implant a positive stimuli in the subject's mind. Thus it is unlike that a smoker will quit or stop when you try to implant these words in their mind because at the base itself it come from a negative nature. If shouting the slogan "stop" "quit" was effective, we would long have decorated the last man to ever hold a cigarette. But that is unfortunately not the case. On the contrary, we see figures are climbing the ladder. Smokers are dying everyday. For me, I’m okay with that. But what is sad here is that they die after making the medical sector incurring a lot of expenses and the inconveniences that their families encounter after their death.

This year WHO has come up with the idea of plain packaging for cigarette box. The idea behind this is to make it less attractive for people to buy. This technic has proven itself to be quite effective in Australia - according to an article that appeared in The Guardian on the 12th March 2015. It claims that "tobacco consumption fell 2.9% in quarter and 12.2% over the year, two years after plain-packaging legislation came into effect".