Burned Out.

"A Cigarette: A fire at one end, a fool at the other, and a bit of tobacco in between."

Paper, a filter and some tobacco.That's it?

Neat.

You look at the stick, eventually turning that look into a gaze. Ok, so its 120mm in length and 10 mm in diameter. No, you don’t figure it out that precisely, but does that really matter? You know certainly, it is ignited at one end and allowed to smolder for the purpose of inhalation of its smoke from the other end, which is inserted in the mouth.

“Can I do it?” you think, hard!
Yeah, I can! What’s the big fuss??
“Must I do it? You think, harder!

You wish to possess a cool image and fun-loving personality by being a smoker. Non-smoking is for wimps and wusses. Besides, a noble job like smoking has no reservation criterion. It reduces the gap amongst the rich and the poor too.
Your mind plays the games of knots and crosses. All religions speak against alcohol; no one says a thing against tobacco. Stop the double standards folks. That’s certainly logic, you think. You close your eyes and go ahead.

Where must you place the butt? Between the index finger and the middle finger? The thumb and the index finger? Or grip it with all the four fingers at the stick and the thumb in the opposite? So, u are intelligent enough to realise, you are a starter and hell yeah, you really don’t want to make a fool of yourself, do you? You hold up that stick finally between your index finger and the middle finger. That’s how most of them out there do it, don’t they? The mental game of knots and crosses multiplies itself by 5! You have varied thoughts, emotions and ideas running through your body, mind and soul. The big question lingers, “to be or not to be?” a wimp or a hunk? Even before you know your decision consciously, you find the butt between your lips! A state of utmost stillness lingers on. You swear, you never must have been anymore concentrated, ever!

Your entire concentration is on how you must light up that tobacco rolled inside that piece of paper just not to make a fool of yourself. You pray, “Oh lord! Burn but just the cigar! You certainly don’t want to be an object of ridicule for the oncoming months!

Peer pressure?
Yes it is {yet again}

The tobacco inside the paper lits up! You pull hard! How hard? Do you even know? Two weeks ago, you had saved a person by giving him the hardest mouth to mouth resurrection. But the question remains, “was it really the hardest?” certainly not! Not harder than what you do with the mere paper roll! Your mouth is smoky and you feel the irritation. But hey, you are cautious enough to not show it. “Oh! I am the dude who is a born smoker!” you pretend. You don’t want to be ‘looked down upon’! The smoke travels through your wind pipe into your lungs. You cough, Cough again! Five seconds later, everything is all cool. You repeat the action four times over, dragging a little too much the second time, lesser much the third, managing a decent one the fourth time over. By the 5th, you are a master! Congratulations young one, you have just said hello to a supposedly ‘headache remover’! Oh really? And moreover, its diwali in a week’s time and you’ve harnessed a handy method of lightening the fuse.

Nirvana?
Yes, it is {finally so)

Anyway, you casually throw the butt away. Hey! At least have the decency to discard the butt in a flower pot or a garden bed if you don’t want to walk all the way to the trash can. It will at least fertilize the plants and keep the insects away. Being a smoker doesn’t give you the liberty to be non-civic! And dude, you are just a novice if you’ve forgotten that already.

Next on, you are walking on the street with a song in the heart, a thought in the head. You spot a tapri, you freeze! Or perhaps, the wills classic ultramilds you spot makes you freeze! It says, ‘discover a passion’. Haven’t you already? Ok, so you would not want to answer that but hey that doesn’t make you any more innocent. You go ahead. Classic and chloromint- the eternal pair! You look around, checking for dangers. Is your neighborhood aunt out with her dog for a walk? Is your dad returning for office? Your mum, is she out shopping for in the subzi mundi? Wow! No, you proceed. The shopkeeper has gauged, you are new in the game, just by your expressions. He advises you on all different kinds of cigars and whoa, you stand and listen too. Finally, it is lit, you walk off!

How cool is that?
Yes it is {I guess so}

One last time, you light it again. You start smoking - inhale, exhale, and smoke in, exhaust out. You make smoke patterns - perfect Os, wispy lines. You play with your lighter - open, close. The power, the authority that you feel holding the stick in between your fingers, the emotion that overcomes you, the intellect that challenges you, the disease that spreads over you, never lets you go. However you pull hard. This time before you blow out, life blows you away. Congratulations! You never got the chance to grow old.

Happy ending, finally?
Yes it is (definitely)

P.S - Cigarette smoking is injurious to health. (Who cares?)
After all, it is really a good career move if you want early retirement and would like to use up your sick leave.

How logical!
Yes it is {whatever}
One really has to quit smoking. Either you do it personally, or life does it for you.






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