Restless

It is 2 Am, 29th July, 2007 and I am abusing myself for not going out in evening. I wanted to go out and get some fags, thought would be able to do without. It was a bad logic!!

I literally stopped some months before, was actually asked to do so and I conceded. Gradually it again started, " if I concede, shouldn't I expect some return". I did not get any and in fact was pushed really hard. There are good things and bad things, I wrote sometime back that Good-Bad is a part of a continuum; so Bad for you may be Good for me and other co-ordinates may sometimes change in such a manner that a Good would suddenly be Bad. Hmm, the logic still exsits with one addition - This continuum is not linear, it is 3 dimensional.

Well, so some Good and Bad, and am back to what I was few months before. 10 is a good number. Pele used to wear the same number, I think Zinedine, Sachin also have the same number.

I never intended to write this, rather I was building on some idea of writing about Politics, some new Google/Orkut/Internet surprises. This is not what I want to do, but you are never so lucky. Life is not beautiful!

Smoke to save earth from you!!

Do spend some seconds to read this
"The World Health Organisation contends that tobacco products will kill up to one billion people in this century unless governments in rich and poor countries alike get serious about curbing smoking. Already, this preventable epidemic kills 5.4 million people per year. Half of those deaths are in developing countries like India, where lighting up is still considered by many a macho Marlboro Man thing to do"

Huh ho... Marlboro Man !! The paragraph goes on to say that rich and developing countries should try to make Tobacco products as punitive as they can be - this means taxes and taxes.

My immediate reaction - A quick study to prove that Indian Bidis are not that harmful, as they are raw. I do not know whether they are as harmful as cigarettes, but I have heard some guys saying this. The picture coming to the conscious is of the people who I have seen making bidis. The fact coming to brain is that MP government earns around 2 Billion from this leaf business alone. Don't know about cigarettes but Bidi making industry supports millions of poor in states of MP, Chhatisgarh, Orrisa for sure, even when they are exploited. So my worries are worthy!.

ITC wouldn't have problem with increasing taxes. ITC- IBD is bettering with time and its on TOP, While rich dedicated smokers would smoke whatever the rates may be. Once a smoker always a smoker.
Some more
"The only way smokers can be weaned away from this highly addictive and killer activity is to make it as difficult as possible for them to puff. Towards this end all countries should introduce measures such as punitive taxation, bans on cigarette ads and ensuring that public places remain tobacco-free so that second-hand smokers are also protected"

Can we really push people not to smoke in public places - :), NO, unless the fines are charged stringently. I have seen people smoking at railway stations (big stations where GRP is on move continuously), People are not afraid of. So Government needs to create an environment of fear if it is serious. But what with these dedicated smokers - A guy was traveling in Indian railways, was caught by TC and paid 200 Rs fine. An hour later caught 2 more times by GRP paid 50 Rs each time..! and god knows how many more times he was caught.
below is an dedicated smoker pic sent to me by a friend... its good doesn't affect but

ps - The two guys above are taking up the responsibility of the title - we need more..! Sometimes I think Nick Naylor in "Thank you for smoking" had a great job!
pps -title and ps talk of good things about smoking... the blog is crap!

Wine culture!!

The times of India pic moved me today morning. Though I knew the phenomenon, I was happy that its happening in India. I could not stop myself from copying it and showing it to people. Thats one part where India is growing for sure.

There are things which are actually confusing - developing a foreign taste - its just an intrusion. Western dressing styles have intruded and so do the living styles and now its Wines. I do not know if Indians were ever fond of wines, I know some raw things are prepared using wheat, mahua, grapes, sugarcane etc and they are typical Indian drinks. I am sure Wine is new to Indian tastes... wait what Indra used to take? (they called it somras was it wine or something else... it looked like wine). Anyways I am happy with something that is called Indian Wine.

Well in most of the wineries it is a tradition to put grapes in a large Drum (really large), where these grapes are meshed by women walking and dancing over it. Then it is left like that for sometime and after some days goes for other processing. Meshing can be done by machines and looks more hygienic too but in Wineries people treat this as an auspicious thing and it is sometimes celebrated too.. This is just like our Indian festivals like Lohiri, Pongal , dussehra etc... related to Crops. Wow! thats happening in India.. one more celebrations added to the list.