Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Painting the Town Red......

How many times have you travelled on an Indian road... and seen people spitting out??? It could be from anywhere, a speeding bus, a train, a two wheeler, or it could very well be a pedestrian.....

Well, as a regular on the roads, I find it as the most disgusting things a person can come across. look at any corner (a staircase, a building, a building lift, etc), and you'll see the red sprayed all over it.... thats nothing but our very own substitute of a chewing gum.... THE GUTKHA & THE TAMBAAKU (tobacco).....

In certain states the no. of people addicted to them is so high that when you walk on the roads, you literally need to dodge the freshly spat ones.... it's impossible to lean against any wall, because you can see the freshly made marks.... Even in some upmarket malls, you'll see the marks next to the bins or the elevators. How disgusting can it get????

Inspite of the gutkha ban and the numerous awareness programmes stating the ill-effects of the product, people just cannot get over this habit.... Suprisingly, I have seen people in a doctor's clinic chewing on the gutkha / tobacco and staring at pictures describing how these products can affect a person's gum to the extent that it creates a hole on the cheeks.... It's almost like indulging in self-torture

It's really saddening to even see small kids addicted to gutkha / tambaaku..... I listen people talking about not smoking or drinking, but this seems worse... I guess we as citizens need to start spreading awareness ourselves.... from a basic level, like talking about it to our maid servants (sadly but true that even some of these ladies chew on them), watchman, or mechanics ....