What is with smoking that all
those horrendous images on the cigarette packets combining with the anti
tobacco movie messages on our TV and cinema screens are not able to stop millions
from inhaling the supposed poison and exhaling the orphic circles of smoke. What
is with the American glamour of Marlboro men and cultural significance of
Filipino cheroots or Cuban cigars? Why that is an image of a woman smoking a
cigarette without being conscious is freedom personified for so many creative
artists and a challenge for conservative folks? Caffeine and alcohol are the
best formulas for conversations but what would a lonely being do? He or she
would walk to the window of his drawing room and light a smoke. At the tea
tapris of Jaipur, on the sea facing rocks of Mumbai and in the open spaces of
Jawahar Lal Nehru University of Delhi; a loner would sit silently on a stone
and light his brand. Inhaling deep, staring in zero, in that momentary gap
between a puff and another, one would think of oneself as if he or she were Socrates,
Dante, Manto, Chekhov or Amrita Preetam. Let them live the glory, let them
smoke….Smoking Thrills.
