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| Pipe dreams: Satyajit Ray in a city street, not a “public place”. A Telegraph picture |
What would Pradosh C. Mitter, alias Feluda, be without his Charminar? What if he were to reach for the packet, his brows knitted, his piercing eyes focused on an apartment building from where he is expecting Maganlal Meghraj to emerge, while he is waiting at a bus-stand, and light a cigarette — and be slapped a fine of at least Rs 200?
Cigarette smoking is injurious to health. If the Centre has its way, smoking will be banned from public places — though streets are fine — from October 2. Which will change some Calcutta institutions forever.
Feluda will no longer be Feluda. Smoke can be an important clue too — things may be tougher for detectives if criminals and accomplices don’t give themselves away by giving off smoke.
Another city institution will lose its character. Imagine walking into Someplace Else and not being greeted by the solid, smoky haze, which stands like a column.
“Someplace Else has that appealingly smoky, dingy aura. Even the live band performances seem accentuated by the smoke,” says stylist Shahana Dutt, 25. Picture the plight of a Flurys or T3 regular who sits with his newspaper and a steaming cup of coffee, but with the cigarette missing.
Or being denied of a college fresher’s rite of passage, that of lighting the first cigarette in the canteen. “The picture of a group of students jamming on the college campus somehow seems incomplete without the cigarette as an accessory,” says 24-year-old content analyst Debalina Mukherjee.
Some things simply go well with each other. Like Olypub, inexpensive alcohol and cigarette smoke. “I wouldn’t feel like I’d been to Olypub if I didn’t come out reeking of that strange combo smell of beer and cigarettes. I can’t imagine getting into a taxi and not having to bathe myself in deodorant to get rid of the smell,” says media professional Madhumanti Mitra.
And would coffee houser shei adda be the same without cigarettes to go with endless cups of Infusion?
At office, the bitchy colleague can mellow temporarily if you pass on (“counter”) your cigarette. You can gossip over it. For men, who still smoke more, it’s an excuse to take frequent breaks. For other men, to stand near the “smoking zone” and watch women light up is a thing of joy, to gape at.
“How are we supposed to unwind at work? Smoking is such a stressbuster. Without a smoke, I just can’t think,” says copywriter Shovan Ganguly.
“Brainstorming sessions won’t be the same. Some of our team’s best ideas were thought of at the office stairs, sharing a cigarette,” says advertising professional Sumit Gupta.
Perhaps one day there will be a call to revise some iconic images — Rajanikanth’s stylish flick of the cigarette to Parveen Babi lighting the “after” cigarette in Deewar to Dhritiman Chatterjee in Pratidwandi.
“I can’t imagine most of Ray films without the cigarette. I remember that scene in Seemabaddha where Shyamal (Barun Chanda) blows smoke into his rival’s face to scorn him,” says Debalina. Or the scene where the smug, sleazy labour officer reaches for Shyamal’s expensive cigarettes without asking him.
If there’s a ban, bars, pubs and restaurants are likely to record a lower footfall. But will people smoke less? Unlikely, for smoking is still allowed in the streets. They are not designated public places in this context.