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Journalism of Courage
Witness the important deliberation of the National Advisory Council as they mulled over universal entitlements to food Harsh Mander,in khakis and sandals,puffs thoughtfully on a cigarette as his colleagues walk out of the meeting. His generation grew up in a time when cheery advert for a cigarette,unencumbered by public health warnings,said,Relax! Have a Charminar!
And they did,artists and intellectuals and brooding outsiders,all exhaled smoke and home-grown wisdom.
There was a time when the tobacco industry and the entertainment industry successfully persuaded the world about the empowerment,nonchalance and grown-up glamour of cigarettes. Now,thanks to a striking generational shift and entirely sensible legislation,people tend to look at you like you have the cooties when you light up. Nothing says has-been as effectively as someone who needs to punctuate their day by sucking on a roll of tobacco. Whether it is Rajnikants famous pistol-fired cigarette flip or Jean Paul Belmondos cigarette-hoarse voice or Dev Anands jaunty way around a lighter,these images now only reveal how definitively we have left the cigarette century behind. France,once proud home of the Gauloise,now has a smoking museum to consecrate the tradition. Even Barack Obamas lingering habit is being presented as a picture of a mans bitter struggle to quit the cancer stick.
Manders smoking in the open,of course,may keep him clear of the law. And surely one can forgive the sinless and sactimonious NAC intellectuals their little vices,as they craft grand welfare legislation for the rest of us. In the larger interests of the nation,of course.
