{"id":2634,"date":"2016-04-21T07:42:09","date_gmt":"2016-04-21T02:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=2634"},"modified":"2016-04-21T07:42:09","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T02:12:09","slug":"no-tobacco-day-smoking-habits-personality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2634","title":{"rendered":"Quit If You Want, But You Will Always Be a Smoker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I<\/span><\/p><\/div>

t was behind a building, in a nondescript lane that was at least four lanes away from home, that I would smoke, looking over my shoulder, scanning the crowd, dreading that a familiar face would spot me. Smoking<\/a>, as any young smoker will attest, is never about smoking. It is an adventure.\n\nAnd we all know how this adventure unfolds. It starts with an attempt to appear cool, and goes on to take the shape of a rebellion. In the early days, smoking is about making a statement, then it becomes a social habit, progresses to become a personal one, only to develop into a full-blown addiction.\n\nBut the addiction is not to nicotine. At least not at a fundamental level.\n\nSmokers aren\u2019t addicted to the nicotine or the tar or the arsenic or the other 10,000 chemicals that make a cigarette<\/a>. And even if they are, nicotine is easy to kick. You can overcome the addiction with gum, patches, hypnosis, chat groups<\/a>, and a little help from your friends. Smoking is about nicotine as much as school is about studying.\n\nNo sir, smoking is a place you go to \u2013 a place where you do not have to check emails<\/a>, where nothing is urgent, nobody enters your space, nothing needs to get done right away. Smoking is like being on an island by yourself with your thoughts, your anxieties<\/a>, dreams, ambitions. It\u2019s while smoking that you make plans to quit your job<\/a> and start off on your own, to look for a new job, to study further, or to move abroad. It is astonishing how many thoughts you can have and how many issues you can resolve in the duration of one cigarette.\n\n

People at parties hold a clutch, a drink, a starter, a conversation. I can hold none of those, so I hold on to a cigarette. <\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nWhen a man is smoking, he feels safe. Nobody finds the need to fill the silence with some small talk<\/a>, no random \u201cwhat\u2019s up\u201d or a forced \u201chow\u2019s it going\u201d. Smokers politely nod and walk past each other, understanding and respecting the other\u2019s space. It\u2019s an unsaid code among smokers \u2013 if a person\u2019s lighting up, leave them be. They are in a place where life slows down \u2013 a life that\u2019s running too fast finishing chores, tackling briefs, and meeting deadlines<\/a>.\n\nA cigarette, to me, is punctuation. Sometimes, it\u2019s a comma, it helps me pause. I\u2019ve used it as a semicolon, where I cut off from the world for a while. Some cigarettes are ellipses\u2026 they seem to continue into the next one. Of course, well-meaning friends and family have always said cigarettes eventually lead to a full stop.\n\nTo an onlooker, my repeated smoke breaks seem like I am standing with the same stick, puffing the same smoke, with the same grimace on my face. But to me, every cigarette serves a purpose. Some serve as a \u201cDo not disturb\u201d sign. Some are stimulants, many a good idea has come to my mind after smoking. Or at least, that is my cognitive bias, to justify the money I spend on cigarettes. Some cigarettes work as sedatives; some are just a plaything \u2013 there were so many I lit but did not smoke. I just hold on to one, look at it, and perhaps, before stubbing it, take a hasty drag. Some work as an accessory. People at parties hold a clutch, a drink<\/a>, a starter, a conversation. I can hold none of those, so I hold on to a cigarette.\n\nA cigarette makes me feel like I belong; it quells my insecurity. Often, I have gone from just standing awkwardly<\/a> in a corner in a party, to smoking comfortably in a corner, minding my own business. Some cigarettes were celebrations, some were calibrations. Some were accompaniments to a stunning landscape, a great drink, nostalgia \u2013 whatever was the main course. Some were just a way to help pass time.\n\nThe act of smoking does not a smoker make. Smoking is personality, in equal measure rebellious, callous, casual, self-deprecating, light-hearted, adequately moralistic, not taking life too seriously. \u201cHar fiqr ko dhuen mein udata chala gaya,\u201d as the legendary Dev Anand<\/a> once sang. To quit smoking doesn\u2019t mean taking your lungs off a diet of toxic smoke. In many ways, it feels like ceasing to be who you are.\n\nIt\u2019s been three years since my last cigarette. Do I recommend quitting? Absolutely. Do I regret quitting? No. Because I will always be a smoker.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To quit smoking doesn\u2019t mean taking your lungs off a diet of toxic smoke. In many ways, it feels like ceasing to be who you are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":2635,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2458,5341,569,5342,4846,571,572,5343],"class_list":["post-2634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vice","tag-cigarettes","tag-habits","tag-marlboro","tag-nicotine","tag-silence","tag-smoke","tag-smoking","tag-tar"],"yoast_head":"\nQuit If You Want, But You Will Always Be a Smoker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To quit smoking doesn\u2019t mean taking your lungs off a diet of toxic smoke. 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