Why the smokers can’t (read don't) quit

“10 years later, you will still be smoking. Or the least ,you will see someone smoking and feel something missing in your life”. A friend of mine had quipped while I was in my Engineering College. 4 of those 10 years
have passed and I am still smoking. A recent blog by another friend who was a Bengali, led me into thinking, why is it that we smokers are never able to quit. For the novices, Bongs are the biggest smokers. I remember that in our college, the BSA (Bengal Students Association) at least of our batch had just one person who was a non-smoker. They are the most addicted ones. A non-smoker in a Bengali college would be almost an outcast.

As a general practice, I googled the title of this blog(I do that for every blog that I write). Google quickly realized that I have now moved from Hyderabad to Seattle so amid the Seattle specific advertisement

suggestions, it led me to this link. The page has a doctor on the left side and some medical terms splattered on the right mentioning how nicotine enters our body and how we try to maintain it and how we experience “mental and physical withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms can include irritability, anger, depression, tiredness, inability to sleep or to concentrate, restlessness, headaches, and increased appetite.”.

All I could think of was “My *ss”.

Here are the main reasons it is tough to quit, readers (the 1-2 of you who do visit this blog) are
welcome to submit your suggestions.

1.      We don’t know:
Yeah! Really. It is tough to comprehend this. But we really don’t know why it is tough to quit smoking. Not every cigarette we smoke is to get the kwan to avoid depression. Most of the times we are smoking is just for the sake of it. Nothing to do, so smoke. Or lets take a break from the work I was doing and smoke. But why smoke? Why not ….. what?? There is no replacement for smoking. I guess it is the subconscious movement of hands which goes to that packet, pulls out that ‘grate, lights it and puff. So I don’t really know why I am smoking. Who cares!!

2. Relax: It does relax the mind. For a moment forget, what else it is doing to the cell vacuoles in your lungs and heard and kidney and brain and joints and what not, the fact is that it relaxes the mind. In today’s world of constant work pressure, peer pressure, pee pressure J and all other kinds of pressure we live in, smoking has its own way of relaxing the mind. Medical journals ascribe this to addition of nicotine in the blood which gives a (false) feeling that the mind is relaxing. In reality it is
not. Well, who cares!!!

3.      Kills Appetite: The primary reason the smokers have a craving for smoking is appetite. Smoking kills appetite. You are feeling very hungry and not able to find some food, smoking suppresses the appetite for some time. This describes one of the primary reason for some people smoking alone and once in a while. While it is very very harmful for health in the long (and short) term , who cares!!

4.     Craving:There is  a natural craving for smoking within 24-72 hours after one stops smoking. This is best understood by smokers who board the flight from any India airport to some long distance international destination. The irony is that the European security checks allow a lighter to be carried, the Indian ones don’t . So the poor Indian fellow is at the mercy of his other country counterparts to lend him one for a few seconds while waiting in another airport. Medical journals again ascribe to nicotine, this craving for cigarette. Who cares!!

5.      Company:This is another primary reason for continues/increased smoking if not starting or craving for it. Just for the sake of ‘giving company’. Many times it happens that the smoker friend comes and wants you to join him for few minutes smoking. Now you can’t stand there and watch him smoke. You just join in. If not with a full cigarette, at least a few puffs from the one he has lighted. This adds a
count to the overall average of mine. But , who cares!!

Why we don’t care about our health: There have been many commercials, sky rocketing taxes, banners, posters, requests, curbs, suggestions, warnings, altercations in the life of every smoker. Alas! He still continues to smoke. Smoking is supposedly main reason for cancer, TB, malaria, measles, high and low blood pressure, sugar, anameia and a myriad other diseases that you can think of. Unfortunately , my B.Tech. degree wasted playing age of Empires only allows me to name only these few gathered from the repeated reading/writing for email-forwards. But it doesn’t deter the smoker.
Why? I don’t know. We just don’t care. It is not as if we are scared of all these diseases and not able to
control our urge for smoking. We just don’t care. We know there are health hazards, but when we are smoking, it is not with trembling hands, rather, we are enjoying. Who would give a damn about the x% increase in possibility of cancer, when you could be killed crossing a road in Bangalore and not a dog would bark. It just doesn’t make sense creating advertisements telling how it is putting our life at risk. Our life is at risk almost everytime in India.  Of course, if it really happens to someone you
know, it will scare the shit out of you.

A few months back I came to know the story of a friend of a friend of a friend. He went to AIIMS for some check-up. The doc asked him “Are you a smoker”. He answered in affirmative. He was told to go to a particular section where only the smokers were treated. There he was again asked “Do you smoke Will(the favorite of Engineering College students due to its high freakonomic value)”. He again answered in affirmative. He was told that within the smoking section there were two different sections for people who smoke other cigarettes and those who smoke Wills. Man!! This scared hell out of me. Ever since, I dread he wills cigarette. I switched to Wills Classic while I was in India and in U.S. I have been smoking a brand which I cannot reveal until I settle the case with a friend who claims that this brand is only for girls. Smoking, though, continues.

I am quitting: After constant suggestions by a lot of people, seeing that life is given a lot of value in U.S. and realizing that here , you have more chances of getting killed due to smoking than due to being hit by a half drunk lorry driver driving an over loaded truck, and constant nagging by my better half, I have decided to quit over next one month. In case I am successful, I will write another post, cheering myself. In case I fail, this will be a reminder of my failure, at least the title.