Post written on July 19th, some time in the night
It’s weird how I still remember the day I smoked for the first time. February. 2007. The way I feel on some nights when suddenly some characters on the screen remind me of that incident from my past that triggered my smoking career, is equally weird. Tonight happens to be one such night. Suddenly my lips crave for a cigarette. Suddenly I feel exactly the way I had felt that night. Aggrieved. Low. Shallow. Broken. I had felt like that three year old, lost in the crowd, crying silently and looking in every direction for his parents.
I don’t have any cigarettes. I don’t remember the last time I bought a pack of cigarettes or even a piece for myself. Somewhere down the line, smoking died. I didn’t even realize when. I don’t even know if I really have quit smoking. Actually, if you ask me, it isn’t something that really needs to be quit. Smoking is so not a big deal. Sometimes I wonder why so much of fuss exist about the whole smoking issue. Sometimes I think Abumani’s dad, his grand-dad and his entire set of forefathers died of tobacco induced health injuries. Last I heard the crazy man was all set to implement a nation-wide ban on public smoking. Democracy my ass. Seriously.
My brain is clever, so quickly did it drift from the sad events of the past, well forgotten, to tortourous national policies, yet to be implemented, didn’t it? Why not reflect on the present as well? That will make the post completer.
You know what starting a new job is all about? It is about shaving every alternate day. It is about missing your jeans and t-shirt and especially those chappals that not long ago, adorned your feet all the time. Starting a new job is about getting your pre-paid connection converted to a post-paid one, so that you can get your phone bills reimbursed from your company. It’s about traveling only in autos because buses are so crowded during the office hours. It is about opening salary accounts in new banks and applying for at least one international credit card and a PAN card. It is about sipping coffee after few continuous hours of work and wondering when did so much of change happen?