Tobacco Tales

I have never liked tobacco in any form. Be it khaini, saada, beedi or cigarette. Maybe the hatred took root during my childhood. My dad used to (still does, for that matter) chew tobacco (saada). It involved careful preparation. Stripping the tobacco leaf, tearing it to small pieces, putting it in the palm of the left hand, adding lime to it and rubbing it with the thumb of the right hand. Things used to be fine till that stage. The next step involved the blowing away of the minuscule pieces, usually by clapping the hands. While it had the desired effect for the preparation being made, small particles used to float in the air taking their time to settle down. Eventually, some would find their way to my nostrils and tickle the sensitive nerve endings on the upper part of the nose resulting in some violent sneezing fits. Till this day, when I see a person preparing tobacco in this manner, I take off as fast as possible from the vicinity.

But its not my hatred of tobacco that I was going to talk about. It is something else, something all of you have probably noticed and marveled at at certain points of time.

It is my ardent belief that if all men were tobacco chewers (of the leaf variety, not the fancy preparations), a great feeling of unity and harmony could be easily achieved. Tobacco usage and sharing extends beyond race, religion, caste and tribe. Ever seen a person preparing tobacco in a crowded train compartment? He pulls out the pouch from his pocket with great difficulty, extracts the stuff and starts preparing. As soon as the stuff reaches the edible (chewable?) stage, scores of palms stretch outwards - known and unknown. He never hesitates. There is always enough and for everyone! And then a camarederie forms between those people who shared the tobacco from the same palm as that of two children who fed from the same breast (what an analogy!!!), a camarederie that is broken only by the ending of the journey. 

Incredible, isn't it? Incredible that a bunch of people who care so much for race, religion, culture and all that stuff and who share the same air, the same water, the same misfortunes, the same enjoyments of day to day life but fail to recognize others come together with that pinch of stuff called tobacco. Boundaries are broken, feuds forgotten and good will established. Would that all the people of our country were tobacco chewers, we may have had a better state of affairs than what  presently exists.

Statutory warning: Consumption of tobacco in any form is injurious to health. This post doesn't advocate tobacco chewing even if it be for the express purpose of achieving national integration.