It was about 10 in the morning in UK when I felt bored ogling at my dear monitor and tired of not seeing any online buddies. I had a dilemma whether to take a break for a smoke or not. When I pulled out my cigarette pack, I was shocked to see it empty and that’s exactly when my mind had “clearly” decided to have one. My office was in a place out of civilization, probably at the end of world. I walked out of the office to find a vending machine that could dispense my much needed pack of nicotine sticks. Alas! They didn't have any. I decided to check with a friendly colleague on where could I find one. She drew the map to the “nearest” shopping center which was about 3KM or 15 minutes of undisturbed walking. Hey, that’s my month’s quota of walking in Bangalore. When I started to wonder if I should walk down or stay put, I heard the little devil in my head say “you better walk. After all, I wasn't asking for it until you made me think about it”.
So, I decided to walk it. As I stepped out of the office all I could see was endless trace of roads that would probably take me to the end of life to attain salvation. At that point in time, it was my road to salvation. So I walked on the pedestrian lane with the map in my hand expecting the nearest shop to move nearer to me. I walked into this beautiful residential area which looked like it’s been built for the sake of building it and not for living. I saw not a single soul, living or dead, through out my journey (3KM a way, is definitely a journey for me) looking out for my “Doop” sticks. Often I used to think what if I were the last person in this otherwise inhabited world. Believe me, it sucks. At least now I know I would reach a human who would pass my day’s quota of tar & carbon monoxide nicely wrapped in sheets of paper, packed together, for a loss of few M-Vitamins from me.
Finally I reached my destination & my face brightened to see an array of packs on the rack. Now I am confused about which one to buy as I couldn't see the one I wanted. I reached out for my wallet and told the counter person to hand me the brand which I could recognize. I need to pay £ 5.6 for a 20’s pack of B&H. That money would buy me my two week supplies back home in India. But who bothers about that when I could then embrace the Golden pack which would give me 100 minutes of mental peace and reduce my living in this funny world by 40 minutes. (This reminds me of a joke, which I would write down on my post script). Pulled my first cigarette out to enjoy the first five minutes of peace of mind just to realize that I did not have my effing lighter and I could find no body in that horizon, leave alone a fellow smoker. I had to defer my blissful moment by another 15 minutes as I needed to reach the office to pull my “old sparkie” to light up my cigarette and my mind. Walking all the way back to the office felt much longer than 15 minutes though I could reach in about 13 minutes.
I pulled my lighter out and ran out to the smoking area. Lit my Cigi and took a deep drag which filled my mind, body and soul. Wow! What a relief!! Now I am done with my Cigi and it’s time for me throw the fag end of this brown and white fellow, burnt and shrunken to an unusable state. Just then I thought, Instead of throwing it down, would take it home, frame it and hang it on my wall just to remind me of the ordeal I had gone through to get it. Then I thought of letting it go as I have 19 of its siblings waiting for me to burn them down and if required, could take one of them for the frame.
Suddenly the so far fast asleep “angel” ME came out of his deep slumber and said “Hey dude, you were supposed to quit smoking by this day! What are you doing with that new pack?” All I could tell him is to wait until I finish this pack. Hey folks, got to go as the 19th one is calling me out.
So, I decided to walk it. As I stepped out of the office all I could see was endless trace of roads that would probably take me to the end of life to attain salvation. At that point in time, it was my road to salvation. So I walked on the pedestrian lane with the map in my hand expecting the nearest shop to move nearer to me. I walked into this beautiful residential area which looked like it’s been built for the sake of building it and not for living. I saw not a single soul, living or dead, through out my journey (3KM a way, is definitely a journey for me) looking out for my “Doop” sticks. Often I used to think what if I were the last person in this otherwise inhabited world. Believe me, it sucks. At least now I know I would reach a human who would pass my day’s quota of tar & carbon monoxide nicely wrapped in sheets of paper, packed together, for a loss of few M-Vitamins from me.
Finally I reached my destination & my face brightened to see an array of packs on the rack. Now I am confused about which one to buy as I couldn't see the one I wanted. I reached out for my wallet and told the counter person to hand me the brand which I could recognize. I need to pay £ 5.6 for a 20’s pack of B&H. That money would buy me my two week supplies back home in India. But who bothers about that when I could then embrace the Golden pack which would give me 100 minutes of mental peace and reduce my living in this funny world by 40 minutes. (This reminds me of a joke, which I would write down on my post script). Pulled my first cigarette out to enjoy the first five minutes of peace of mind just to realize that I did not have my effing lighter and I could find no body in that horizon, leave alone a fellow smoker. I had to defer my blissful moment by another 15 minutes as I needed to reach the office to pull my “old sparkie” to light up my cigarette and my mind. Walking all the way back to the office felt much longer than 15 minutes though I could reach in about 13 minutes.
I pulled my lighter out and ran out to the smoking area. Lit my Cigi and took a deep drag which filled my mind, body and soul. Wow! What a relief!! Now I am done with my Cigi and it’s time for me throw the fag end of this brown and white fellow, burnt and shrunken to an unusable state. Just then I thought, Instead of throwing it down, would take it home, frame it and hang it on my wall just to remind me of the ordeal I had gone through to get it. Then I thought of letting it go as I have 19 of its siblings waiting for me to burn them down and if required, could take one of them for the frame.
Suddenly the so far fast asleep “angel” ME came out of his deep slumber and said “Hey dude, you were supposed to quit smoking by this day! What are you doing with that new pack?” All I could tell him is to wait until I finish this pack. Hey folks, got to go as the 19th one is calling me out.
7 comments:
வாலிப வயசு!
ஹைய்யோ! ஹைய்யோ!
எப்படிப்பா உன்னால மட்டும் முடியுது! உக்காந்த்து யோசிப்பியோ? இதெல்லாம் அப்படி வர்ரது தானே! வச்சுக்கறேன்
Hmm...Bless u GV...have to appreciate ur patience for your blog for a stick that would just shrink ur life every time you finish one of those dhandis. You quitting smoking….r u zoking???? You will somehow find ways to get hands on your fags, even if you were the last adam on earth ;-)
its such a misery that on every packet of your tobacco "dhoop" says "smokin is injurious to health" & is only a few letters in black which goes unnoticed. I wonder if the neanderthals of the pre-hostoric era smoked...Surely they must have been chimneys puffing away the unhealthy smoke, resulting in so called evolved humans like us .... actually now i know the reason why we have become regressive mutants who are more callous and reckless about "life" than our "lesser evolved" ape ancesstors. sad but true!!
Wish you quit smokin and make a difference to yourslef and your loved ones'lives and make the homo sapiens more evloved than the neanderthals
Way to go GV....enjoy the fag..
At the risk of alienating all the freaky non-smokers....live life KINGSIZE !!!!!!
I can't believe the passion with which you have put down your feelings in this regard.
Quit Smoking.
Can't help being a logic-loganathan as always:
Do England pettikkadaikkarans not sell vaththippatti.
If u didn't think of that, the post will already make a good anti-smoking ad :-)
Where is the joke u promised to put in the PS and forgot ? See it affects memory too :-)
I loved the part about the so far fast asleep “angel” ME.
Always the thing conscience. It doesn't stop u from doing only stops u from enjoying. Glad (or should I be) that u have the upper hand
cheers
No Regrets on "The Length You Go for Pleasure", Budd..(after all, from the taster of the 19th......)
It did happened to me except for the angel was fast asleep and i was awake....
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