I think, I feel, I care

Just a lil thought which had me wondering and slightly upset some time this week..

I have read several articles as to how the art of speaking is going down hill with the wide spread use of technology especially with the increasing number of people turning to SMS as their mode of communication. A compulsive talkative person like me felt pretty bad about it and even worse when I began to observe that a lot of my close friends and myself too had, unfortunately, fallen prey to this malicious disease. As soon as I realized it, I did the one thing which was in my immediate control. Controlled my outbox. Definitely. Cut down my messages to the bare minimum. Used the messaging service only if it was really required and not otherwise. Lets say my friends aren’t too happy with it but Im definitely happy about it. The reasons are, one my balance aint disappearing as fast as it used to (which duffer went against 100 free msgs I got no clue but boy, is he jealous or what?) and two, iv started cherishing people’s voices and paying more attention to them. The time when the fact hit me hard and realize that yes, sms has taken over speaking is when a friend of mine confessed to find messaging more comfortable than speaking and sadly couldn’t continue a vocal conversation which I desperately tried to keep alive. Unfortunate indeed. That hit me hard. When I then started to reflect on conversations I have had over the phone, directly and via the msgs, I realized that atleast I as a person loved the direct or over the phone conversations more than conversations through messages. The only time I preferred messaging was in a boring class( hope none of my teachers read this ) or when I am in a situation where I have to stealthily carry on a conversation. Apart from these 2 situations, I like the vocal form more. Some of the reasons being, in my opinion, one- the voice definitely makes it more personal, two- a lot can be understood by the voice modulation sometimes even more than the actual words used themselves and three, it gives both participants a feeling of mutual respect and undivided attention. not to forget, some of the inexperienced liars can easily be figured This is possible through a cell phone via messaging may come the argument. Upto you, that would be your opinion. I definitely am not against technology but not at the sake of losing a major chunk of humaneness. For heaven’s sake!! I read an article where even couples found it hard to speak to each other and had to message even if the other was in the next room!!! Excuse me??? Another bonus which die hard fans of SMS will give- its more private and “intimate”. Private to an extent I accept but intimate? I am sorry but I fail to understand that. Another disadvantage of messaging which I can highlight is poor spellings. Abbreviations for every thing. Almost all words as of now have an abbreviation. Asking for the full spelling leaves the person scratching their head with a sheepish grin on their face. SAD.

Look at a person you admire. What drew you to them? Majority of the people will answer that they were wowed by the persons speech. Control over his/her language, the way (s)he framed their sentences, their facial expressions, the liveliness etc etc. all this from just vocal conversation. As far as I have noticed, it bonds you with the speaker. A good speaker always get more attention. you may be a genius but if you lack proper speaking skills, your communication of your knowledge is not going to reach people the right way. Great leaders are often shown as examples of great speakers. Reason? When you listen to a person speak, his or her voice if it carries sufficient energy motivates you and gets you passionate about the project. A highly effective tool of manipulation. Watch tv serials or movies and you will get my point. The way the villain is shown to brain wash another character with the mere tool of voice modulation and careful phrasing. Very interesting. The top notch people generally have their speeches prepared, revised and practiced. Reason? The voice, its modulation and the vocal form of communication reaches to a far wider audience and has a quicker and harder impact. Harsh words on paper and harsh words in your ears. Which would hurt you more? I can guarantee the answer is mostly the latter. Of course, when it comes to passing on bad news, its preferred to do so vocally as opposed to by print for the simple reason that when speaking, a person’s emotions can be sensed and the news can be delivered accordingly. SMS may sound as though the person is speaking to you but it makes a huge difference when you actually hear the voice. Proof to this I am sure everyone would have experienced- a call from a loved one as opposed to a message from a loved one. Your preference?

Think about it.

Just a small request- even if you are a frantic SMS fanatic please do practice speaking even if it is to yourself. Don’t put yourself in a situation where you are not able to convince others with your speech or in a situation where you are not able to speak. Please.
Please don’t let the art of speaking, the earliest forms of communication die.
Please.

This little piece is not to be taken literally. It has a different meaning. the ocean here in fact, represents us, humanity.

I stand,
I stand drinking your beauty
But not surrendering to it.

I stand,
I stand against your lapping waves
But not falling prey to its power.

I stand,
I stand daring to go against you,
Your beauty, your power.
You, I plead to support me in my fight.

Puff puff vegetable puff
Puff puff cheese puff
Puff puff cigarette puff
Cough cough coughcoughcough

Didn’t understand?

Let me explain.. this post is dedicated to cigarette smoking.

I’ll get down to the facts straight away shall I?

Right

Its common knowledge that cigarette smoking is an addictive habit due to the presence of nicotine. infact, nicotine is far more addictive than heroin and cocaine..don’t believe me? As an instance of its addictivity its been found that even gorillas who learnt to smoke from the supposedly superior version-humans couldn’t give it up? Funny eh? To imagine a gorilla smoking? However, how many of you, the smoker (pardon me if you aren’t one) know that you are addicted to something which was earlier used as insecticide??

Shocked?

Don’t be. You asked for it.

A lot of people are aware of the comments one receives from a smoker when asked the reason as to why they smoke the instant reply- “ its relaxing, reduces stress, feels good blah blah blah” why my dear b**d (sorry for the foul language but lets say smokers don’t feature in my favourites) have you ever bothered to wonder why you find it so? And has it ever struck you that a small part of the “relaxing” feel you get is because you for a change actually deep breathe? I accept that nicotine too does have its effect and this I shall attempt to enlighten by providing an excerpt from Wikipedia-

“When a cigarette is smoked, nicotine-rich blood passes from the lungs to the brain within seven seconds and immediately stimulates the release of many chemical messengers including acetylcholine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, vasopressin, arginine, dopamine, and beta-endorphin. This results in enhanced pleasure, decreased anxiety, and a state of alert relaxation.”

Also, I found this bit which describes the breathing habits of the smoker while puffing a cigarette –

“Reasearch suggests that when smokers wish to acheive a stimulating effect, they take short quick puffs, which produces a low level of blood nicotine. This stimulates nerve transmission. When they wish to relax, they take deep puffs, which produce a high level of blood nicotine, which depresses the passage of nerve impulses, producing a mild sedative effect”
Understood now? Hopefully yes.

Please people, I know that a stranger’s appeal and explanation wouldn’t help the cause- that’s exactly the reason why I have included excerpts from Wikipedia in case you doubt the facts presented here.

Its very well known that smoking leads to cancer. No question or doubts about that but just to make things clearer let me tell you that it is not nicotine which induces the possibility of cancer but other substances in your beloved cigarette. Also, I have this tiny question to pose to you, smokers.. why do you want to smoke with all its negatives(as iv mentioned below) plus bad breath plus health hazards plus looking absolutely foolish and dumb plus lose respect all for that hardly three inch thing filled with tobacco?

In small concentrations nicotine increases the activity of receptors, among other things leading to an increased flow of adrenaline , a stimulating hormone. The release of adrenaline causes an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and respiration, as well as higher glucose levels in the blood. This explains the alertness and te request of doctors to diabetics and blood pressure patients to quit smoking. Doesn’t it? Don’t you have a loved one who smokes? Even if he or she doesn’t have diabetes or blood pressure problems, they are definitely on their way to get it.
First causing a release of glucose from the liver and adrenaline from the adrenal medulla, it causes stimulation. Subjectively, users report feelings of relaxation, calmness, and alertness. It is even reported to produce a mildly euphoric state. By reducing the appetite and raising the metabolism, some smokers may lose weight as a consequence. It also allows the mouth to be stimulated without food and the taste of tobacco smoke may curb the appetite as a result of which the unhealthy weight loss occurs.

In addition, nicotine increases dopamine ( a neurotransmitter related to aroma ie neurons which transmit the electric signals to identify aroma) levels in the reward circuits of the brain. Studies have shown that smoking tobacco inhibits monoamine oxidase (MAO), an enzyme responsible for breaking down monoaminergic neurotransmitters such as dopamine, in the brain. It is currently believed that nicotine by itself does not inhibit the production of monoamine oxidase (MAO), but that other ingredients in inhaled tobacco smoke are believed to be responsible for this activity. In this way, it generates feelings of pleasure, similar to that caused by cocaine and heroin, thus causing the addiction associated with the need to sustain high dopamine levels.

We all know that nicotine may be absorbed in the body through smoking but the actual process is as follows –

As nicotine enters the body, it is distributed quickly through the bloodstream and can cross the blood-brain barrier. On average it takes about seven seconds for the substance to reach the brain when inhaled. The half life of nicotine in the body is around two hours[2]. The amount of nicotine inhaled with tobacco smoke is a fraction of the amount contained in the tobacco leaves. The amount of nicotine absorbed by the body from smoking depends on many factors, including the type of tobacco, whether the smoke is inhaled, and whether a filter is used.

Smokers you may have noticed don’t stop with just one a day. If that’s the case then definitely the damage will take a looong time to occur. However they go onto smoke upto a minimum of 15-20 cigarettes a day. The reason for this is their attempt to make sure they experience pleasure right through the day. The effect of nicotine may last for any period between five minutes and two hours.

2 facts about smoking which gets my blood boiling are 1.the fact that the smoke exhaled by these balsted smokers not only kill them but kill those around aswell only much slower. And 2. the to-be-mothers who smoke! Shame on you! You who is supposed to take care of your child(even if unborn its still your child) are killing it or atleast giving it a possibility to be born with abnormalities. And most probably if your baby is born abnormally then you would dispose of it by throwing it into the cradles of the considerate orphanages. Shame on you. And would-be-fathers, if you think that the responsibility of not smoking lies only on the woman, I pity you for your ignorance. Do you, my men have the knowledge that your smoking is endangering your chances of fathering a child by reducing your sperm count? If not.. now you know J

Since iv mentioned all the possible ill effects of smoking, maybe its rightful for me to outline the only possible positive of smoking- the increased state of alertness increases memory. That’s it. The only positive.

The effects of smoking iv covered but what had me interested and thinking about this apart from the health aspect was to figure out why people really smoke. I could unfortunately come up with only one point- to be a part of the crowd who believed themselves to be cool unfortunately not realizing that theres nothing cooler than sticking up for the right kinda stuff and being healthy..sad sad.. sigh.. what would happen to the numerous youngsters who fall prey to this malicious fictitious belief? Pity pity

aaah.. now I shall rest in peace.. in all honesty, this is one topic which iv wanted to address for quite some time and create awareness amongst smokers and people in general.. finally iv done so (atleast i hope so).. please do remember what iv mentioned here and maybe all of us can persuade those smokers to quit smoking. Please, this is our world with our people. Lets make it a better place to live in with healthier and happier people!!

Ps- sorry for the humungous post but I wanted all the info I knew and found to be shared!
Thanks for reading! do comment!

Dans les bois, je la regarde.
Elle,elle leves elegante dans la penombre
Avec une jolie sourie et yeux petillement.
Elle,elle prend mon coeur a moi.
Dans les bois,je la regarde-
Mon amour, ma vie

The above happens to be a small french poem (with a lot of the accents missing) which also happens to be my first attempt on writing poems in a language other than english.I shall translate the same for the sake of those who dont know french

In the forest, i see her
she,she who stands elegant in the twilight
with a pretty smile and twinkling eyes
she,she takes my heart from me
In the forest, i see her
my love, my life

just wanted to share it with u people