Kicking the butt in the times of breathlessness

There is no smoker without a fire. Nothing causes a flare up like someone lighting up in a restaurant, a hotel lobby, a cinema hall, the airport or a shopping mall. Even at dinner parties, otherwise genial hosts force friends to huddle in balconies on winter nights, sharing a boogie and shivering.

Is it all smoke and mirrors? A Gallup poll reveals only 18 per cent of Indians smoke. Thirty-two per cent are men and only four per cent are women. The largest number of smokers is in Indonesia: 35 per cent. Meanwhile, 6 in 10 Chinese men smoke at least occasionally, while three per cent of Chinese women do. Health studies show around 3,000 Chinese die daily from smoking-related illnesses. Smoking kills 9,00,000 people every year in India — an average of 2,500 a day.

So, with just 18 per cent, India is better off and seems to be kicking the butt, SRK notwithstanding. In the old days public figures smoked profusely: Jawaharlal Nehru loved a drag; photographs of him with a jaunty cigarette askew at a corner of his mouth gave off a sense of diablerie associated with Leslie Charteris and Humphrey Bogart’s Casablanca. Pranab Mukherjee was rarely seen without a pipe in the Nineteen Seventies and Eighties. In the movies, the gasper wasn’t a problem: Amitabh Bachchan smoked a mean beedi in Don; Shammi Kapoor fired up female hearts with wistful glances wreathed in the mystery of smoke. Rajnikanth’s party trick of flicking a cig up in the air was imitative folklore. Madhubala, a cigarette dangling from her painted lips is an immortal portrait that combines beauty and all that is sinfully outré.

Of the last generation, both gentlemen and villains smoked, and flaunted gold Cartier lighters and mother of pearl cigarette cases. Today, smokers are villains. So, what changed? In the old days, there was nothing called six packs, only packs of 20: even Dara Singh had a paunch, not to mention most of our screen heroes. The Indian got healthier, learned about triglycerides, cholesterol and HDL and scared for his life, cooked with sunflower oil and olive oil. He dumped the cancer stick. India is already in a health crisis. A 2011 study by Harvard, Princeton, Adelaide University and University of Singapore ranks India as the world’s seventh most environmentally hazardous country. Fifty-two per cent of Indian cities have critical pollution levels (exceeding 1.5 times the standard); 36 cities have high levels (1-1.5 times the annual standard) and only 19 cities are at moderate levels, which is 50 per cent below the desired limit.

The Environmental Performance Index notes India has the worst air pollution in the entire world, more than China, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. According to Indian scientists, coal pollution kills more than 3,00,000 people annually. Vehicle emissions are responsible for 70 per cent of air pollution in India as exhaust from vehicles has grown eight-fold over levels of 20 years ago. Over 50 per cent children in Bangalore below 18 years suffer from air pollution-related ailments. Eighty per cent of India’s urban waste is disgorged in the country’s rivers.

In this apocalyptic scenario, would you care for a puff? Or huff?

Ravi@newindianexpress.com