Anti smoking day on 31stMay 2008

Every year on 31st of May, the whole world celebrates the Anti-smoking day in the wake of wiping out this disease from our socities.

Let's take views of people to see what they think about smoking and why or why not they quit it for once and for all. I guess the focus should be on the following issues.

Why and how do people start smoking in the first place
What is the most vulnerable age for getting hooked-on to it
The urge that motivates smokers to smoke
Good or Bad affects of smoking
The issues involved in quitting it

Role of peer/ social pressure in quitting smoking
The difference a smoker feels in his life, once he quits smoking
I hope this debate would be quite healthy and would enlighten a lot of readers to choose or loose smoking.


I have been a smoker for more then 10 years now ! and have always supported smokers as i believe they are part of the society and have a right to smoke but as of today let me answer the question in real fact![also i am the author of the post Smoking is not injurious to health ]



Why did i start smoking ?
Just for the sake of it, it can be blamed on Media, probably as if you remember 10 years from now Ad's for cigarettes always portrayed thrill, fun and beautiful women and at the age of 14 - 16 thats what attracts you subconsciously, so for the sake of thrill usually we start to smoke , try something new etc... then there is also easy availability, the upper smoking generation who might inspire you and lots more to be blamed i guess, but in the end its a personal choice to smoke or not to!


What is the most vulnerable age for getting hooked-on to it
From age 12 onwards, at my time kids in class 8th & 9th started smoking but now a days its kids in class 5th & 6th as well, who start smoking, so keep an eye on your kids and if you want to know how to find out if your kid smokes ask me. Also there is a rapid increase in Female smoking as well, i personally like women who smoke but yet again its not good :( so keep an eye on your female generation as well.


The urge that motivates smokers to smoke
The taste of cigarettes dies after 1-2 years after which your body becomes dependent on tobacco & nicotean, and if you don't smoke u ll have headaches, nervousness , and anxiety. Its an addiction!


Good or Bad affects of smoking
Good effects are that it helps you balance your stress, depression, and gives you mental satisfaction that when you are smoking you are relaxing. Its extremely enjoyable if you smoke after lunch, when you get a "Saroor" out of cigarettes.
Bad Effects! It causes cancer, kills your stamina, help you get a heart attack at age 30, and for women cause problems in pregnancy, for passive smokers its more dangerous and injurious and for environment its pollution.


The issues involved in quitting it
As i mentioned your body gets used to it so quiting is bit hard for a week or so,u ll have headaches, nervousness , and anxiety. Quiting is mainly dependent on your motivation to quit, as i say its a personal choice so if you want to quit then you can quit. Also best time for men to quit is when they get engaged or married and there wives ask them then they might for a few years :P


The difference a smoker feels in his life, once he quits smoking
This i don't know how he feels in his life, i haven't quit yet, i guess he would feel like a looser!:)
But in the end every smoker quits, cause every smoker knows that it is injurious to health and it will cause him health problems in future. Keeping in view of our current living standards where there is lack of exercise, lack of healthy food, lack of healthy environment smoking is way more injurious then before. So non smokers keep your war alive smokers try to quit ! for me i haven't yet decided to quit but i am trying to reduce it as it do causes certain problems at young age as well.


Thanks for such informing and detailed post. It's good to have such insight from a smoker for all the rest of us to stay away from it.

The government should run programs to make sure that under 18 should not be get cigrattes.

i have been a smoker for almost 2 years and i know that it is a bad disease,but i can'nt leave it.....may be i have not tried to leave it....I totaly blame our socity and media.........Our ministry of health heart us....how...and why?????........reason:as we see that the commertials of smoking are so time holding but at the end the ministry of health just show a little statement ... that...smoking causes cancer and many heart diseases .................i think some program should held for antismoking by the group work of ministry of health and media.......thnxxx


i m a passive smoker....i feel so dismayed n helpless when i think of those poor alveoli in my lungs.... media does play a role but it would b blatant exaggeration to make it solely responsible for this habit....i m also xposed to the same adds but they fail to lure me...so i guess one's environment also contributes in this choice in addition to other factors...


Smoked 3 packs a day for 4 years, quit cold turkey about 11 years ago.

As a smoker, 11 years ago, my energy level was always low (lower after a smoke) I could run for half a mile (10 minutes); currently I run 5 miles every other day, work full time, run my own business, remain active througout the day and require around 6 hours sleep time to be ready for a new day.

When your heart sinks

Sorrow is the basic feeling of human being.I think so because my heart tells me .
There are instances when your heart talks to you,whenever you see something disheartening.If you see somebody weeping your heart sinks.Your heart tells you to share the sorrow despite that the person weeping is in no way related to you.But being a human being your feeling is beyond your control.When it comes to sorrow your feelings are uncontrollable and you burst out with tears in certain situations.
You advise others not to hurt anybody.Hurting causes sorrow.The eyes of the person will reflect the feeling of melancholy which you cannot withstand if you are a human being.A spontaneous emotion tells you"poor girl!"
There is numbness in your heart.For otherfeelings like love,hatred,anger and so on this sharing is not present and your heart is not going to talk to you like that.
That is why I think sorrow is the basic feeling.Sorrow can generate kindness.
when you pray to god you have a sombre feeling.What is the cause of sorrow?
Anything contrary to your expectation.You expected success in the exam.But you failed.If you had a practical way of looking at life you will never be sorry.You expected success and you are practical enough to face failure too.In fact it is a success in life.Always expect the unexpected.Life itself culminates in sorrow.The baby cries when born.But the people around are happy.During the end on the contrary -The death-everybody around are weeping.

Listen to poetry.
"sweetest songs are those that tell saddest stories".

To do or Not to do

Doing is very easy when you think of not doing anything.Who is there around without doing anything?
so hard to find!On the road you can see many people having multifarious activities.If you see sombody standing on the footpath without doing anything you are a fool.He is atleast thinking and breathing.let off the breathing.It is a physiological need.But what about thinking.Is it indispensable?Who can avoid thoughts?A saint will be able to do it.But he is meditating which is an activity.
This is a discussion which will never end.
True!You cannot keep away from doing.
At least you will be trying to find out!

ALLAH AKBAR

Allah akbar!
The powerful sound of the islam reverberating between the hills of eternity
for the emancipation of mankind.
Nothing other than music can contain the depth of the meaning of holy Quran and the deepest faith of islam.
Because music contains everything.I came to this conclusion when I listened to the songs in the album titled"Allah Akbar".The attractive cover will tempt the buyer to open it and push it into the CDplayer without delay.
You are ok! But close your eyes too.It will be like going to heaven with a thousand wings to fly.
The songs are very nice despite the singers are not very popular.
The song "manimegha therirangi" is melodious."ahadavante" is a female song that is more devotional."samsamil neeradi" is quite rhythmic and pious.You will feel like listening again and again."orikkal" also belongs to the same family.
Other songs are
Kanivin kathir
Snehagayaka
ee vazhitharayil nabi
Allah akbar
The only unfortunate thing is the language.The songs are in malayalam which the majority of the world population cannot follow.But music has no language. These songs are enjoyable beyond language.
The songs are available in india.For outside indians the only way to download from http://amiestreet.com/artist/13679

A temple in the village

The bell rang
It is from the nearby temple.
Normally the temple chores start with the opening of the door with a bell.It is also a signal to the nearby people to wake up and start their day.
Even for the roosters!
Ladies wake up first to take the broom and clean the premises,take bath and enter the kitchen.Men wake up after sometime to read the newspaper sipping a cup of hot tea or coffee.
The backgroud sounds of the village is soothing with cyclebells and bullock cart noises.
Stray dog barking will be very unfrequent because the dogs are lazy in the morning.They become vigilant only when a stranger pass by,and the barking is often triggered by an oversmart young dog and followed by the others only to convince their masters that they are alert.
The temple is always the capital of the village.The priest is the advisor for everybody.He accepts the offering to god from women and keeps the stuff in front of the deity with his lips always chanting sacred manthra.
The main pooja is not necessarily attended by everybody.May be less than half a dozen people will be there and majority will be old ladies.
On auspecious days there will be more people coming to the temple.The priest will have hectic activity these days.He will have to attend to each and every visitor and distribute the holy water and sandal paste among them.The water is poured to their right hand for drinking.The sandalwood paste is for making a mark at the forehead.Saffron powder is also given sometimes.A hindu is always identified by the mark on the forehead.
The yearly festival is the main event in the temple as far as the people are concerned.The deity will be taken around the village to bless the people at their doorsteps.The houses will be decorated with palm leaves and plantain trees.
Ladies and children will wear new dresses.
"Ponkala" is a cooking ritual performed by women.They cook rice mixed with jaggery and scraped coconut and offer to god.
At night there will be dance and music upto late night and the festival will conclude with fireworks.

How the bank robbed me

The railwaystation road is always the adjective of traffic terror and the people are so fortunate that we dont have a facility to safely cross the road.I you want to attempt the feat you are free to meet with the accident and make new frienship with autorickshaw(the three wheeled comedy vehicle browsing every nook and corner of the city).My bank has given me the facility of withdrawing money through ATM counter on the other side of the road without knowing the fact that I have got to cross the busiest road in the city.Unfortunately I crossed the road without any damage to any vehicle that fly along.I reached the ATMcounter and pushed in my card.

bztrrrrrr!
The card came back.
The monitor said"please insert the card properly"
I inserted the card again(this bloody computer display is unaware that I used to push the card properly for the last few years and this tiny robot is going to teach me how to put a card)

BBBzztttrrr!
Angry computer is again telling me that I did the mistake again.
What to do!
I could not stand the banking strategy of keeping my money and not giving me back when I need it.
forget the computers!forget modern life. Forget everything that man gained!
I dont want these machines. I want my money.
PPLEEEEEESE!

SANJEEV BABU,The pensive melody maker

It was about a couple of years back I was browsing through the TV channels one evening.Suddenly a piece of music made me stick to that channel.A man was playing guitar and the programme was Shubharathri in Jeevan TV.His playing was unique in the sense that it had the grace of western music with a soothing interlace ofindian melody.
The man who embraced the guitar late in his life had an upward stride that took him to the film world as a music director for sometime.He himself admits that he could not do much justice to the film music because of lack of freedom in his work.He had to compromise a lot among the musically ignorant directors at the cost of quality.He decided to keep aloof from the commercial crunches of music.
When the interview ended I had a numbness in my heart.I went to the music store and looked for some of his music and luckily I could get an instrumental music album,old is gold- as it was titled.
Later I became his fan and his albums began to adorn my shelf.And now the latest addition,his album named santhwanam(named after the title song of the TV serial that was telecast in soorya TV last year)
Santhwanam has only 5 songs that will definitely stick to your ears.It is like teardrops falling silently in the piano keys.Music defined with the softest words.
I am sure this man is not as popular as he should be.Of course the unfortunate are the music enthusiasts of kerala who are always behind wrong people.