Sharmaji Ka Beta – Why Smoke?

Sharmaji ka beta is a sensible person. He knows that smoking is not good for health. So he never did. However, lot of his friends and colleagues did.

Everyday in office, his seniors and colleagues would go out for a smoke while Sharma would sit inside the office waiting for them to come back. Over time, he realized that the colleagues who went out together for smoke had a nice camaraderie with each other and with their seniors. He noticed that really young newly hired employees, also picked up smoking, to partake in the networking, happening in the office balcony. It was as if he was missing out on important professional relationships for not having a poisonous habit.

Sharma decided to remedy that and participate in the conversations without taking up the habit. So he started going out with his colleagues to the smoking zone. When he was offered a cigarette, he smartly answered that he quit smoking a few weeks back. That stirred up a conversation as to how everyone is wanting to quit smoking but haven’t been able to.

Sharma realized that everyone understands how poisonous the habit is. Most of them even want to quit, but they’re far too addicted to give up. He started wondering, how did such smart, intelligent people who are so logical about everything in life, got trapped in the web of smoke. He wondered, how or why did they start?

Sharma decided to know more about this. He asked the people he knew who smoked, the reason behind it. He asked them how did they start smoking in the first place, and why do they continue to do it, knowing how harmful it is for health. The answers blew his mind away.

Many people smoked because they thought it was a stress buster. Others did out of peer pressure. Many took it up even to just try it out. And some of them did it to be rebellious.

One of his friends said, he picked up smoking because it made him less hungry. He said, he had to lose weight as he was obese. And nothing else helped him in distracting himself from food. It was like he picked up another addiction to get over one.

Another one said, he smoked because he felt everything was under his control. He felt, placing the cigarette between his index and middle finger and elegantly taking it to his mouth and leaving out rings, gave him a sense of power. He said, it was a good feeling to have, in this rather chaotic life where nothing seems under control otherwise.

Sharma realized there are so many insecurities, fear and many more negative emotions associated with the act of smoking. He realized, when one has to quit a cigarette, it is not just the cigarette that they have to give up, but face that fear or emotion that they are hiding away from. Which was what made the quitting part that difficult.

Sharma is now facing a padlock. He is asking, “Is there a way out of this? Can there be one solution to this?”

Share your thoughts with us, to help Sharma take a direction to fight this evil in our society.

To be continued…

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Regards,
The CSR Journal Team
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