Women Smoking!!

That looks like a very interesting topic to blog about(Atleast to me!!). Bangalore is a new place to me. Infact its the first major city i have been. I did my schooling in a place Ambasamudram(Tirunelveli!!! comes in some movies like roja, dum dum dum), then college at Coimbatore. The moment i heard i was going to college at Coimbatore i was jumping with joy!

But that soon died out, a month after i ended up there i found out there is nothing much cool there. Even the "cool" temperature was horribly bad from that year on. I still remember my cousin sister saying "Kanna! Interviewla select aayita varumbothu amma kitta solli, jamakalam ellam eduthundu vandhudu, appadi kulurum". Anga pona appram thane theriyuthu bedsheete theva illainu!!!!

So this place had all the perinaikenpalam, koundenpalam, narasimhanaichenpalayam (Spelling! to Err is human :-), not much of a city approach although my college was much better,it was in the Top ten colleges list some time back. I had a close friend of mine who just wanted to do graduation in a city like Coimbatore and got admission in another well known college for which he says he'll repent until he dies!

So not much of a city exposure, I am not this partying kind so it didnt bother me much. My apprehensions changed the moment i landed here for this internship. My mother usually insists this "6 o'clock bath, 7'o clock sandhyavandhanam, 8 o'clock temple" and then college which i 've never tried doing, but it gave me a feeling that this was life!

Bangalore gave me a different feel about how good life can be (not considering the traffic, the zillion street dogs, the roads after it rains and of course the mutlilingual autowallahs!!). So this is going to be another tale about a flat-mate who is also from Coimbatore and his notions about being in a big city.

We walk back home together usually (both of us are Interns for different companies in the same campus) and we discuss about a wide range of topics. Believe this guy has totally different opinions about most of the things in life. So we were walking near the Domlur signal when a woman wearing Jeans and T-shirt crossed us smoking a cigarette. The moment I saw that it didnt bother me much knowing that most women in our campus smoke. But he could not resist that, he complained "Partheengala, kaliugama pochu. Ponnunga ellam dum adikaranga"(Fate to the society that women are smoking). I didnt want to get into a debate and deliver a judgment if women could smoke. So i just said that its not wrong.

He did not accept that answer. He told me that the Indian tradition will not accept women smoking and drinking. I told him that society neither accepts men smoking. He told me that even during the times of Akbar and Birbal men could smoke pipes (He actually meant the Hookah!!!!), so men are above that law.

So i had to point out that the society neither has a law that bans women from smoking nor one that accepts men smoking. So went on with this discussion. All the while during the conversation i kept telling him to get rid of the "Periyanaickenpalayam" attitude (not that i am from New York, or Jersey city) but i have learnt to like city life.

So he got all the more agitated and asked me a question, "Ungalukku kalyanam aaha pora ponnu, dum thanni adicha avala kalyanam paniipingala?". That was a pretty neat question. I told him "No!". He asked me to give him a clear answer! So i told him that once the engegement is done you dont have much of options! Else i might opt out! I knew i was bowled out completely.

He quickly remarked, "Periya pengal nalan kaakaravaru mathiri pesineenga, ippo mattum en vendam soneenga?" (You spoke as though you were the sole savior of the women's cause, why are you opting out?).

Me with the stubborn **s attitude could not accept defeat easily. so i kept talking non-stop for another fifteen minutes after which he got tired hearing that. Lucky me!!

But when i was alone i just realized how we are. You know that women smoking is quite common nowadays and one cannot judge a female just because she drinks and smokes, but you still cant accept them.
"Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open."!