“I smoke a
lot,” admits 20-year-old Shripad Kurtarkar, a young aspiring actor, “But, I have my limits.”
“Two years ago, I began using a nicotine patch and things are
gradually improving. But honestly, being a smoker, I would never call smoking
cool! It’s good that smoking is not popular compared to earlier. Since smoking
has become anti-social in current times, we are able to stick to our limits. I
am able to stay in my limit and the ‘World No Tobacco Day’ is a reminder to all
us smokers,” states Kurtarkar.
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Everyone wanted to be cool back then; in fact, smoking a pipe or
using cigarettes were a trend, a style that not only the young but even the old
followed. Ripped jeans, leather jacket slung from the shoulder and that lighter
lit up to smoke a cancer stick just to show the world you’re James Dean was the
most popular cool action among teenagers. Oh and how about a puff just to
impress your girl? If you ask your elders the cool trend of smoking in those
days, they’ve got a lot of stories.
According to Charlene Farrell, a counsellor, it was all about
peer pressure. “To be honest, in the olden days, due to a lot of peer pressure,
smoking was cool. If a person smoked, it was considered classy, which is why
everyone wanted to follow. Among friends, if one was found not giving into it,
they were classified as freaks. In those days, youngsters would do anything for
popularity and to fit in a group socially,” she shares. “Today, it’s different,
a lot of awareness is being created,” she adds.
It’s true. Earlier,
with less knowledge of the adverse effects of smoking, there were no
controllable methods. But now, with every person’s right to live healthy,
awareness is being created to protect the non-smokers too. Therefore, in every
city, park, mall or restaurant, there are always ‘no smoking’ signs. There are
even smoking zones or smoking rooms kept separately for people wanting to
indulge in the activity. The awareness is widespread so much so that even the
buyer of a cigarette packet can see the graphic warning that ‘Smoking is
injurious to health’.
Event coordinator and
musician Lawrence Fernandes mentions that a lot of smokers are from the events
background. According to him, it’s either stress or the normal teen who wants
to be cool. “Earlier, there was a lot of influence from films too. Today, even
if I was to go to a party, smoking would do me no good; let’s just say ‘it adds
to the pollution’.”
He says that there
are so many other options if a person wants to smoke without being harmed. One
can choose the E-cigarettes and herbal cigarettes. “Let’s not forget we are
talking about tobacco here. Tobacco, gutka and even tobacco added in paan is
dangerous. And for those of you, who think hookah is safe, it contains high levels
of toxic compounds, including tar, carbon monoxide, heavy metals and
cancer-causing carcinogen.”
Similarly, Charlene
feels that just because youngsters don’t smoke, it doesn’t mean there are no
other ways to be addicted to harmful substances, for example drugs. “I think
more stringent attempts should be made to stop youngsters from these things.
Abroad, ID cards are asked from them before purchasing alcohol and cigarettes.”
Not everyone agrees
to the unimpressive nature of smoking. Sanjana Kapdekar, a Hotel Management
student, says that she smokes and not because she likes it, but because she
finds it cool. “I would prefer living in the ‘60s where smoking was a fashion.
But, I would never force someone else or influence them to do it, because I know
it is injurious to health. And yes, I do get scared at times, which is why I am
trying to get into a habit to use safer versions.”
Victor
Fernandes, choreographer, concludes that though smoking is not cool anymore, it
is still done today. “Youngsters feel that they are mature if they smoke. They
fail to understand how injurious it is.” He also says that earlier it was done
openly and now they hide and do it. “So what’s the difference? I think the only
way out of this now is to stop selling the cigarette packets or the sale of
tobacco everywhere,” he says finally.
