Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Ode to a lost friend - The cigarette

          My relationship with this entity in discussion started about 11 years ago. Yes it was a relationship of 10 years, cemented by time. It didn't start off willfully by either of us. I asked a senior of mine for an introduction to Ciggy. He warned me that this relationship was one that many didn't survive and said I would surely curse him at a later stage in life for having done this to me. The youth in me ignored the advice, the glamour of having Ciggy with me was too much to let go of. And so it started. Like all relationships the first few days were not intense, I didn't inhale her essence to my lungs, just a puff in the mouth and that's about it. Do you think Ciggy would let go with that kind of superficial coddling? No my poor uninitiated friend, she is the master seducer. She would stay with another man just to make you think how smart he looked with her. And so a few days later I was totally into her, pining for her day and night.

          I would wake up with her first thing in the morning, meet her for the tea break, spend the precious post-lunch nap time with her, meet her after class, after dinner and then just before sleep. Ah, those were the good days when her true colours didn't show. We were warned by some of our good-boy seniors, public advertisements and even pictures of the failed and rotting men who had graced this woman and fell to her charms only to wither away; but no we didn't listen, we were lost in her caresses. With time it became a habit that any bad event in life was calmed by her, any happy event was to be celebrated with her. Little did we know that we were now in her horrid grasp of death, inching towards devastating effects on our physical and mental well being.

          After 5 years of college and on an average of 4500 eventful sittings with her spending about Rs 25000, I passed out into the real world. In the mean time I had started to put on weight and I had taken to running during post-graduation. To my utter dismay I couldn't run a single lap - the me who had run 7 kilometers a day through harsh hill terrain every day of my school life was not unable to complete a single lap;the horror. The seniors were right, she had sapped all the lung capacity out of me. Slowly but surely she had gained hold of what she always took from all her lovers, their lungs!

          Work life brought with it the pressures of the real world that we as kids were hidden away from. Top it up with a failed relationship with a woman whom you thought was going to be around forever and you have Ciggy nightmare. She soothed me and calmed me with her warm glow and idyllic dancing clouds. And she served as a very good socializing element. She had many a follower and every follower of hers became friends. In fact it was cool to be a Ciggy lover. And her next step in cementing the relationship was over. We were now addicted to her, for she has convinced our minds that she was the soother of storms.

         Without her knowledge I began to detest her. The way she smelled on others, how she made my mouth bitter, and the worst of it all, how she made me cough like I was consumed by TB. By now I couldn't walk a flight of stairs without gasping and panting. I pushed myself at the gym to run and that helped a little, but the evil repercussions of my courting the devil in white did not wane. And one day I just couldn't talk. My voice was choked. I enjoyed singing to myself and always harbored a small self pride in the fact that I sang well, it was all crashed. I panicked and went to the ENT doctor. She had one look and asked me gravely if I had courted Ciggy. When I replied in the affirmative, she dismissed me with the wave of her hand and asked me to stay away from the evil one. I stayed away, till my voice came back which was a day later and I was back in her caressing arms.

          7 years of fighting to giver her up. Ridiculed by friends for breaking up and making up. Some friends had managed to quit on her. I read all about it online, tried and failed, tried again and each time the number of days I could stay away increased. I started gym after I saw that I was growing up only in my mid section, and in order to perform better at gym I let her go some more. And after 11 years of her rule in my life I was free. I quit on her. My breathing was back. My singing was back, my stamina is on its way back. I still do grace her  once in a while when I enjoy a drink with special old friends who bonded with me over Ciggy, but I make sure I am the master. All said and done, I must tell you, it was good while it lasted. Ah - there she goes again, twisting my brain to her charms, but I am not succumbing anymore!!!

For the benefit of all you men and women out there trying to shake her off, some of the tricks I used to quit on her as below :-

1. Find a strong enough reason. For me it was gym.
2. If you must smoke, do it away from home or office. Basically stop doing it at places where you spend most of your time. Smoking is a habit, once you shift some things about the habit, it starts crumbling.
3. Decide to quit! Make up your mind to start trying.
4. Don't give up once you go back. I had a minimum of 100 relapses before I quit completely.
5. Promise as many people as you can that you will stop. Make bets. Lose if you must, but keep making them.
6. Get a quit partner - when two of you do it together you have peer pressure to follow suit.
7. Don't buy packs, buy in loose. Throw away lighters for good.
8. After every smoke decide its your last one and to reinforce that belief throw away matchboxes, remaining cigarettes etc.
9. Chew gum instead of smoking.
10. At every urge do something you love doing - watch cricket, call your girl friend. But nothing beats a walk with music on.
11. Avoid alcohol when quitting. Alcohol and cigarettes are like the rains and hot tea. They cannot be separated.

For further help please make a payment of Rs 5000 to my account which shall be provided upon request. :p Just ping me and I'll do all I can to help.
          

2 comments:

  1. you've described ur journey well...it shall be an inspiration for many who want to change! i feel it is a bad habit to smoke ! no one shud begin at the first place. some get the guidance bt some fall prey to it. very inspiring and helpful article!!!

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  2. Hi Shahen, yes it is indeed a bad habit to be avoided in the first place. Thanks for reading,

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