Why do I Drink/Smoke???

A lot of people I meet with recently have commented on my Tobacco-Stained teeth... And more often than not in front of my Mother!!! I am faced with 4 options to weasel my way out of the discussion:

1) Tell them I do not Brush my teeth daily

2) Admit to the fact that I smoke a lot

3) Irrespective of how far-fetched it is, tell them that I am a heavy passive smoker

4) Tell them my Mother is a heavy smoker and that I inherited her teeth

Instead, I tell them I am a Patriot!!! A person who puts the Well-Being of his country ahead of himself!!!

And I am not wrong!!! For only a true patriot would drink/smoke for his Economy!!!

Those who don't drink/smoke are traitors!!! It is a myth that the tobacco Industry in India contributes to lesser than 2% of our GDP!!! Even if this were true, then we all know what the secret behind the current recession is!!!

Lesser Indians drinking and smoking!!!

In 1999-2000 when Tobacco's contribution to our GDP was in excess of 13% and Alcohols's in excess of 11% we were not facing a recession!!!

So too in the case of 2009-2010 when Tobacco's contribution stood at 17.1% and Alcohol's at 13.3%!!!

So what has caused this sudden recession??? I'll tell you what!!! Lesser Indians Drinking and Smoking for their Motherland!!!  

Like Uganda, India is an outlier in the correlation between GDP and alcohol consumption, though in a different way: While per capita income in India more than doubled between 1993 and 2003, alcohol consumption did not rise at all. (The FAO, which gathers different data, indicates it did rise, but only slightly.)

(Source ---- World Resources Institute)

So what does this mean???

That we Indians have become more selfish!!! We look at saving money and our Health and are not thinking about our Country!!!

Look at all these Matrimonial Sites for instance... Most parents are asking for a Boy with "Good, Clean Habits"... Is being Patriotic and Drinking for your country not a "Good, Clean Habit"??? I have decided that I will only marry a Woman... And I shall marry an Indian Woman at that because....

While alcohol consumption is low overall, it's even lower in women than in men in India, as in many countries. Though data is limited, studies through 2000 consistently estimated prevalence of alcohol use among Indian women at less than 5 percent. In addition, there is a persistent belief that women who drink alcohol are either less educated, rural women or members of the upper crust, leading to a stereotype that associates alcohol use with primitivism or privilege.

However, drinking is becoming more commonplace for India's professional women, causing the gap between drinking habits of women and men in India to narrow--a phenomenon also happening around the world. As women become more educated and more economically independent, women's alcohol use in some societies is rising. (And men's alcohol use, interestingly, is falling in some European countries.)

(Source ---- World Resources Institute) ---- (Also explains why I will not marry an European man)!!!

Which leads me to why I'll marry someone from the Urban economy (Someone who earns more than me)...

One contributor in India is employment. Though labor force participation dropped between 1999 and 2002 for rural females, rural males, and urban males, it rose for urban females. Contrary to the historical stereotype, these urban females now consume alcohol at twice the rate of their rural counterparts.

(Source ---- World Resources Institute) --- So they are two-times more Patriotic!!!

I will only marry someone who thinks as deeply on the Indian economy as I do!!! If more of us were as Patriotic as me, we would get out of this recession in a Jiffy!!!

Sometimes, I think about what my mother used to tell me when I was a Kid!!! "Don't waste your food... Think about the number of children who are dying without Food!!!"

Those words have stuck with me to this day!!! Everytime I drink / smoke... I think of the number of children who are dying because they do not have access to either... And then I drink / smoke some more for their sake (always with a tear in my eye)!!!

Be a Patriot!!! Do the right thing!!! Drink for your Country!!! Smoke today so that someone else may have a future tomorrow!!!

Cheers!!! Jai Hind!!! Satyameva Jayate!!! Chacha Nehru Zindabad!!!