I envy smokers! I am not one. But I envy them. Don’t get me wrong. Smoking is the vilest legal habit practiced under the guise of the desire of wanting to declare to the world you have arrived as an adult. Not only can you afford to buy a pack but there is no one to tell you to stop it. And seasoned smokers are merely a creature of the most despicable legal habit. But I still envy smokers! They share a bond between themselves that nonsmokers find difficult to find at random. For after all those who appreciate Rilke’s lines do not stand outside buildings holding up a glowing lamp saying I love Rilke, come let us bond.
Or those into Vipassana meditation do not silently let off vibes proclaiming we just experienced a moment of nirvana in an intensive meditation session. Come. Let us talk about it in the slight drizzle letting our heads get slightly wet. I wish I could take a puff or two just so I can share the immediate, unvoiced and silent connection that is taken for granted among smokers. Somehow smokers always seem to know when to congregate without making any announcement, without a notice on the notice board announcing ‘smoking times’. The act of taking a few minutes break, imbibing the fresh air, shooting the breeze with friends for a few, the inevitable elevation of the individual and the collective morale that automatically arises from such bonhomie—every aspect surrounding the ritual of smoking is wholesome at the individual as well as the collective level.
Never mind the fact that toxic fumes are inhaled and wreak havoc with pink, pristine, tender lungs—that is incidental! If only the rituals that surround the simple act of smoking outside an office building could be institutionalised—made mandatory for all employees at random! Would that not do much for the morale of the organisation? Smokers are a deeply maligned lot. If a scientific study were to be conducted, it will be seen that they contribute to the overall health of an organisation merely by bonding with each other.
The increase in productivity that they must surely be responsible for from the bouts of fresh air and breaks that they take should be lauded and not go unrecognised. All this should galvanise some genius into inventing and successfully marketing a health-inducing puff, not puffs that cause death and disease. Puffs that are not only healthy and addictive but also filled with vitamins. Is it not a crore-rupee idea? Will someone take up the challenge please for the sake of the individual and collective health of all of us?