This is from a while back. Though, I'd like very much to listen to opinions on this one. And I hope I do get a chance to hear some.

And so, the much debated ban on smoking is in place. Yes, I know just about everybody has an opinion on the issue, but I’d like to think another one won’t hurt much. I dislike smoking but I loathe being a passive smoker. I don’t wish to kill myself slowly and painfully so somebody next to me can successfully ignite his/her lungs. So this ban is the best thing that could have happened to the likes of me. But, like all of us know all too well, the place we inhabit is far from being the ideal world.

A ban is not how it is supposed to be done. Today we are told not to smoke and dance, tomorrow we’ll be told not to drink and the day after we’ll be ordered not to think. When did community service turn into fascism? I do understand that there is a something to gain from a ban, but it’s important to be clear on what this ban signifies. Probably, that smokers don’t have the first clue what they are doing and hence need to be told. Or perhaps it’s politely telling them that if they want to kill themselves, they can feel free to do so in the comfort of their homes.

Before starting an argument, it’s important to establish the purpose of the ban. Cutting down death rates from smoking diseases and cancer, reducing risk to heart ailments, a healthier environment are some of the supposed drivers. Perfectly legitimate causes that stand to get little or no help from a ban. People who run the risk of dying due to smoking are compulsive smokers. These are, let’s assume for the sake of an argument, people of at least average intelligence, literate or illiterate notwithstanding, who are well aware what smoking can do. They are also the bunch that the ban is mainly targeted at.

By not permitting people to smoke at workplaces, pubs and other enclosed public places, on what basis can we conclude that it will have the effect of people actually cutting down on their nicotine intake? All I see around me, especially at work, is a bunch of restless, snappy people who can’t wait to go to the road to feel normal again. The roads in India, as we all know, are places that propagate freedom – whatever the expression of it might be. And never mind the pubs; I just don’t see as many people there anymore.

Most offices used to have smoking zones and as for pubs, they could use something similar too. People who wish to smoke know where to head and people who wish to avoid being passive smokers know where not to go. Creepy advertisements about degenerating lungs work on some too, so we can only try to increase awareness. Not shove our own rules down others’ throats.

A ban on smoking will not work for the same reason segregation in co-ed schools and curfews in hostels don’t work. What’s forbidden is what entices.