Excerpt: 20 sticks

Chapter 1

I bought it off the shelf like I always do. It felt a little different but in my haste I overlooked that. Paid for the pack of 20 and my soda and dashed back to my car little knowing the 80Rs I had spent would cost me, cost me dearly indeed.

I was thinking about the upcoming seminar, my day’s meetings, some unfinished emails and some quick instructions to my team. A typical working day was soon going to become completely atypical.

I step into my car, closed the door, put the soda into the glass holder and turned on the radio to my favourite country music channel. Took a couple of seconds to gather myself before the long day ahead, sighed out and turned on the ignition. I quickly moved my car into the express lane and maintained a steady 100km/h. When I realized there was no one ahead or behind me for a good 2 kms. I reached out for the 20 cigarette pack opened the plastic wrapping and pulled out the golden flap. The welcome smell of nicotine flooded the car. I smiled, this was indeed the right way to start a long and challenging day. I drew on cigarette out with my right hand, closed the box and put it back on the shelf. Then I pushed the cigarette lighter to get it started and pulled it out in a few seconds to light my cigarette.

The first drag of smoke just like the first sip of cold beer evoked the most liberating of feelings. As I let the air out of my lungs and looked out of the window I noticed a sign which read “Last stretch, just 20 left”. I presumed that meant I had only 20km to Mumbai, smiling I was smoking away slowly slipping into oblivion when I glimpsed a sign board which made me sit up straight. Something about the image had got all my antennas on high alert. It had an image of a man who was being shot in the chest and I think the text under it read “change or die”! The next second I was chuckling to myself. “These advertising folks are becoming increasingly creative in their bid to get our attention. Boy that was quite an ad!”.

I took a last drag on my cigarette and was chucking it out of the window when 2 cars whizzed past me barely an inch away at either side. I instinctively pulled my hand in and clutched the steering wheel tightly and made sure the car did not go out of control. In the process I dropped the cigarette on my trousers and thereby burning a hole in them (and that too in all too provocative area). Cursing the maniacs for racing on the western express highway, spoiling my leisurely smoke and my two thousand rupees trousers I kept driving carefully.

Luckily I was carrying another set of formals and would quickly change into a new pair of trousers on reaching the venue of the conference.