This is the article that I wrote for the Star’s Ole BRATs two months ago. It was supposed to be published in the February 2009 issue, but due to some error, it got lost in translation, so it was only published today. But, it was PUBLISHED!
I
am
FAMOUS.
(Excuse the perasanity. It’s not every day you get your work published in the country’s leading English daily.)
I
am
FAMOUS.
But it’s very watered down because I wrote R’s part, and Dhinesh wrote Caroline’s part. And somehow my character R got turned into someone else, and Dhinesh had to merge our two pieces into one. But wth.
And, I got a picture byline! :D But it doesn’t show up here, so go look for the newspapers.
….
On second thought, don’t. It was a rather unglam picture.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not even a puff
By LOUISE TAN and DHINESH PRADHAN
To smoke or not to smoke? That is the question! Believe it or not, more and more teenagers are facing this question. With their peers puffing away, the temptation to try smoking is quite strong for some. It is not so uncommon to see students in school uniforms hiding in corners or even openly smoking cigarettes.
We spoke to two teenage smokers to find out what made them start puffing away. Ray is a Form Five student in a government school, while Caroline is a freshman in a private college.
Ray said he started smoking for the fun of it. It is in his character to try everything at least once, and that led him to start smoking when he was 14.
Caroline, on the other hand, was persuaded by ‘idiots’ (her words) when she was 15. Her friends convinced her that smoking is cool and she should try it.
“They even used reverse psychology on me. I eventually tried smoking, but I told myself that I was not going to get hooked,” she recalled.
Despite hating her first taste of smoking, she tried cigarettes again six months later when she was really stressed out over her studies and relationships. She has been hooked on smoking since then.
The influence of movies and the easy availability of cigarettes made it all the easier for them to pick up smoking.
“The movies always show how relaxing it is to smoke, I just assumed it was real,” said Caroline.
Ray said he never has trouble buying cigarettes despite laws forbidding its sales to those under 18. Few shopkeepers ever hesitated to sell him cigarettes, even when he is wearing school uniform. When they ask for identification, Ray just tells them that he is buying the cigarettes for his father or grandfather.
Despite the pleasure they get from smoking, both teenagers admit that there are downsides too. When he was 16, his parents found out that he was smoking. Quarrels and lectures ensued, and tempers ran high in Ray’s household.
Now, almost a year later, Ray has finally allowed his father to bring him to a clinic to seek help to quit smoking.
Caroline’s mother caught her smoking when she came home from work early. Her mother was initially very upset and insisted that she quit smoking, but she has now given up on persuading Caroline.
Caroline says she tried twice to quit smoking, but started again the next day. “There were times I would throw the pack across the room at night but ended up crawling to pick it up the next morning,” says Caroline. She also thinks that her acne problem is due to her smoking.
Ray is determined to stay off cigarettes.
“Maybe I’ll miss the taste, and the high on nicotine. But I never want to go back to 20 sticks a day, no way. Smoking really sucks. You have no idea. Seriously, if you want to release stress, there are better ways to do it. I’m glad I’m quitting, and I’ve even got one of my smoking buddies to quit too.
“It’s really much better not to start smoking at all.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
*applause*
My thanks to Dhinesh! Haha.
Below is the original article I wrote, before it got merged.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If every smoker smokes one packet of cigarettes every day from the day they are 20, they will have smoked approximately 292,000 cigarettes by the time they are 60 years old, assuming they manage to live that long before cancer claims them. Now, however, it is not uncommon to find teenage smokers as young as 14 or 15. Most teens know at least one smoker directly or indirectly.
According to the website http://www.teendrugabuse.us/teensmoking.html, The American Lung Association estimates that every minute, four thousand eight hundred teens will take their first drag off a cigarette. Of those four thousand eight hundred, about two thousand will go on to be chain smokers. The fact that teen smoking rates are steadily increasing is disturbing, as researchers are finding out that about 80% of adult smokers started smoking as teenagers.
R is a Form 5 student in a local government school (name of school withheld). He is daring and outgoing, the sort that will try almost anything once. Unfortunately this included smoking. He has been smoking for 3 years now. However, unlike many smokers his age, R has decided to make the right move towards his addiction – in the opposite direction.
“I started smoking for fun,” he explains. “And it was really easy to start.” Apparently, despite there being law forbidding the sales of alcohol and cigarettes to under-18s, a shocking amount of dealers sell cigarettes to students in school uniform without batting an eyelid. Few ask for identification, and if they do, it is enough to claim that you are buying the cigarettes for your father or grandfather.
R used to go through a packet a day. He enjoyed the “high” feeling very much that came after the puff. Besides, he says, it did help to somewhat ease the stress that he faced from school and parents.
And even now, despite the heavy advertising against smoking and all the health implications emphasized loudly on billboards everywhere, R still believes that he will be fine; that he won’t face any health problems in the future.
“I won’t get cancer,” he says confidently. “I’ve heard of smokers who live to be 90 years old and they’re still puffing away. Their lungs can adapt to cigarette smoke. I’ll be like that,” he believes.
In the beginning it was alright. Just a puff before or after school, outside the compound, usually with a couple of mates. At he beginning of his Form 4 year, however, his parents found out. Quarrels and lectures ensued, and tempers ran high in R’s household. Now, almost a year later, R has finally allowed his father to bring him to a rehabilitation centre in Kuala Lumpur. He is currently into his 3rd week of quitting. (time of interview was in February)
“Despite the ‘highs’, smoking did kind of suck. 2 or 3 hours after my last puff and I’d start feeling ill and unwell.” The dependency on nicotine can be difficult to resist. If the urge came up in school, R would just head to the back of the class and try to sleep it off. When he and his buddies went ‘social smoking’, he said he would ‘try not to inhale the smoke into his lungs’. It didn’t always work, of course.
“And I don’t want there to be anymore quarrels and lectures,” he says, with slight remorse. “I want my ‘freedom’ back,” meaning he wants his family to stop nagging. “Besides, I’ve never liked the ‘rempits’ that hang out in gangs smoking in the parks and playgrounds. But I realized that if I smoke, what makes me so very different from them?”
The 2nd week of quitting was the hardest. Even with the help of nicotine patches, R felt irritable all the time, and he developed a flu-like running nose. He spent a lot of time sleeping in class, and as a result, got knocked by a lot of teachers, who are all unaware that he smokes.
But now it seems that the worst is over. “It’s my 20th day today, and I feel a hell lot better,” he tells the class proudly, and they whoop and clap for him.
“Maybe I’ll miss the taste, and the high on nicotine. But I never want to go back to 20 sticks a day, no way. Smoking really sucks. You have no idea. Seriously, if you want to release stress, there are better ways to do it. I’m glad I’m quitting, and I’ve even got one of my smoking buddies to quit too.”
“It’s really much better not to start smoking at all.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*applause* *APPLAUSE* *STANDING OVATION!*
Good night.
:)
