I am a smoker.
I have been one for the past thirty years.
I smoke because I like to.
Not because I cannot give it up,but because my will power is so strong I never smoke in between cigarettes.
What bothers me of late is the way some people are treating smokers, even those they have invited to their homes.
Even in the winter, you have to shiver with a smoke in the cold of the balcony or the patio.
And skulk back as if you have just gone outside to pass the silver to an accomplice, hoping nobody noticed.
I find it odd that in a city like Delhi, people should become so American.
I do not expect most people I party with here to have read Oscar Wilde, who talked about the cigarette being the perfect pleasure.
But the way we are getting spin is just not healthy.
Every since the potheads of California turned to yoga and microchip millions, the decaf life is becoming a global phenomenon.
In having local fun, America rules.
Ever since a fascist mayor banned smoking in bars in New York.
And now, Spain, that nation of chain-smokers has banned smoking in bars and restaurants.
And even Paris follows suite, starting this year! The world is becoming an increasingly intolerant space, with less and less space for those who do not fit in with the rest.
But Delhi has had a way with it, that effortlessly combines the hypocritical with the puritanical.
Pollutant being released into the capital's atmosphere have gone up from 100 tonnes in 1997 to 300,with 65 per cent being gifted to the city by automobiles.
So, the message is you can buy more but do not smoke them, please.
With car registrations having reached a staggering 105 per cent this year, more than 30,000 trees have been felled to modernise and increase road space to accommodate vehicular traffic.
And everyone loves to Walk.
I could give up smoking.
But during these tandoori days when people take their personal trainers shopping in search of health drinks and organic metabolic boosters, go to the opening of restaurants which host wine education dinners.
I have been one for the past thirty years.
I smoke because I like to.
Not because I cannot give it up,but because my will power is so strong I never smoke in between cigarettes.
What bothers me of late is the way some people are treating smokers, even those they have invited to their homes.
Even in the winter, you have to shiver with a smoke in the cold of the balcony or the patio.
And skulk back as if you have just gone outside to pass the silver to an accomplice, hoping nobody noticed.
I find it odd that in a city like Delhi, people should become so American.
I do not expect most people I party with here to have read Oscar Wilde, who talked about the cigarette being the perfect pleasure.
But the way we are getting spin is just not healthy.
Every since the potheads of California turned to yoga and microchip millions, the decaf life is becoming a global phenomenon.
In having local fun, America rules.
Ever since a fascist mayor banned smoking in bars in New York.
And now, Spain, that nation of chain-smokers has banned smoking in bars and restaurants.
And even Paris follows suite, starting this year! The world is becoming an increasingly intolerant space, with less and less space for those who do not fit in with the rest.
But Delhi has had a way with it, that effortlessly combines the hypocritical with the puritanical.
Pollutant being released into the capital's atmosphere have gone up from 100 tonnes in 1997 to 300,with 65 per cent being gifted to the city by automobiles.
So, the message is you can buy more but do not smoke them, please.
With car registrations having reached a staggering 105 per cent this year, more than 30,000 trees have been felled to modernise and increase road space to accommodate vehicular traffic.
And everyone loves to Walk.
I could give up smoking.
But during these tandoori days when people take their personal trainers shopping in search of health drinks and organic metabolic boosters, go to the opening of restaurants which host wine education dinners.