Ahhh! Maybe I’m old that I find it difficult to accept this. Maybe times have changed that if you don’t smoke, you are not hip or cool. Peer pressure, I guess.
When I was at their age, you can hardly see any woman smoking in front of public except if you are at kampong, but then, those who smoked were old ladies. They were not only smoking but also eating and chewing sirih and betel nut. They were social smoker because they smoked when there was kenduri.
My great-grandma (we called her Uwan) smoked too, but not regular. Once in a while I would see her smoked. She was more of a sirih and betel nut lady. None of her grandchildren smoked either, including my mom.
Eventhough my mom and her sisters didn't smoke, I and my sibling were tempted to try. So what did we do? Whenever opportunity arise, we would sneak into my grandma room and took her cigarette. Hah! We had to roll the cigarette ourselves. Most of the time we only smoke it without tobacco. Why no tobacco? Because we don't want to be caught sick from smoking, or else our butt will be smoking.
After we took the cigarette, we would run to our favorite place. We smoked under the mangosteen tree or the rambutan tree where they cannot see us. Luckily we didn’t burn down the trees.
But when I was about nine or ten, I did tried once with tobacco. Wow! I felt like I was zapped. I felt dizzy, and after that, I didn’t dare to try with tobacco anymore.
Did I tried to smoke in my adult life? Heh! It is for me to know, and for you to find out, but for your info, as I grow older, I can’t stand the smell of the cigarette, especially if it is rokok keretek.
I smoked for years and now I wonder how I ever did it. It always starts off with being curious and then wanting to fit in ... no matter what era we are in!
ReplyDeleteJodene, that's the different between our culture. You cannot see any girls nor women smoking in public 20 years ago and the numbers were low compared to now. But I cannot say the same thing about it now.
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