SMOKED OUT

Adolf Hitler the German Politician, demagogue, and Pan German revolutionary was the leader of the Nazi Party. As a dictator, he initiated World War II in Europe. The Nazi Germans in their riot of massacring prisoners from the concentration camp were cruel enough to use Gas chamber to kill them. Until recent I kept wondering how atrocious the act was and the plight of the victims within those vicious gas chambers were, as they drew their last breath. I had never anticipated a day when a similar experience would be meted on my Mother and me in our very home. Back in the Nazi's gas chambers if it was Carbon Monoxide that was used to kill people; our home was engulfed in smoke from the cigarettes emitting Nicotine and Carbon dioxide for hours together in a day. 

It's surely a delight to be living in an apartment in one of the top floors. 😊 It's a sheer joy to behold the lush greenery that the city still holds with buildings towering in between them; the frequent sounds of the traffic, intermittent tolling of the church bell, and chirping of the birds; and sun rise and the sun set at dawn and dusk adds to the joy of living in the building. Apart from the aroma of the tasty foods cooked by my neighbour, the market complex located close by houses eateries from which sweet and spicy smell takes the liberty to travel high up to our flat at the whiff of the wind. But about a few months ago the breeze started carrying horrible smell of the smoke from the cigarettes starting with a few minutes and later on for hours together.

To our disappointment the smoke swirled up into our flat from the flat right below ours. One evening when my Mother returned home from an evening stroll, she realised that our home had literally turned into a Gas Chamber. The house was engulfed in a densely thick smoke of Carbon Dioxide and Nicotine. With no cross ventilation to our flat she found me perched under the ceiling fan which was working on full speed to get rid of the terrible smoke. Be it in the early mornings, afternoons, evenings or night my Mother and I were generously treated with the cigarette smoke till it could choke us to death. The tenants who had occupied the flat below seemed to have gone uncontrollable with their poor habits. We discovered that young men and women were having a merry time practically every day. But as a rule by the Apartment Association, the flat owners were forbidden to rent out their flat to bachelors.

I soon found myself at their door pleading with them to stop the smoke. But for the cigarette addicts that they were, on the contrary they lit too many incense sticks to cover the smell from the smoke of cigarettes. How outrageous! 😡 With double the amount of smoke entering our flat I had no doubt about coming face to face with the lord of death any moment. The tenants below were like rodents ruining the reputation of the apartment through their sordid acts as they had already violated too many rules of the apartment. I was desperately looking forward to see these pests smoked out of our building as soon as possible. A verbal complaint regarding the disturbance was reported to the Apartment Association President and Manager. We were happy that they immediately reported about the same to the owner of the Flat. But our happiness was short lived. To our utter dismay, we learnt that the owner was least bothered. 'Why would he be? As long as he gets his hefty rent for his well furnished flat it won't make a difference if people lived or died due to the excessive smoke!' How inhuman! 😭 He seem to be as heartless as Hitler. Helpless, Frustrated and Heart broken did we feel here at our home as the tenants down below smoked through the night till wee hours which disturbed our sleep. It all looked like we were the ones who would get smoked out from our own house for no fault of ours.

QUIT SMOKING!!!

In spite of the awareness of the harmful effects of smoking found practically everywhere and most of all on the cigarette packets with a statutory warning in bold stating CIGARETTE SMOKING IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH, people have mindlessly been smoking. This clearly shows the state of mind of the smoker. So much so for moments of pleasure, he doesn't mind putting the lives of people living in the vicinity at risk. Findings have proved that if a non smoker is in the presence of a person smoking for about half an hour; traces of nicotine will be found in the non smoker's blood stream. Here in the apartment we have been witnessing how the young educated lot have been killing themselves at a slow pace, as well as mercilessly dragging us along with them to the grave.

Enough was enough! A written complaint about the harassment was given to the Apartment Association. To our much delight the Association found the complaint on paper very helpful to take actions on the annoying tenants. A notice was immediately put up on the notice board dissuading flat owners from renting out their flat to bachelors, spinsters and students. Did that help us? Absolutely not! It's only that the visitors seldom visited the flat below, but the women who were cigarette addicts stayed on and didn't cease smoking.😠 So much so even the people living in the flat above ours had also started complaining of the smoke. The issue has drawn the attention of every other person living in the apartment.

I believe in miracles! We've all been waiting for one here in the apartment. Apparently the tenants in the flat below will either get smoked out or will walk out on their own. Kind and smart are those owners who have rented out their flat to good people. A smart way to keep away trouble makers is to cross check the tenant's background at his work place if he is an employee or educational institution if he is a student, even before renting out the house. Apartments and other housing colonies can put up rules on the kind of people that the owners are permitted to rent out their house. By doing so, trouble makers like the prostitutes, terrorists, thieves, drug addicts and all those carrying antisocial elements will surely be kept at bay. Precautions have to be taken for a peaceful and a joyful living. Ultimately 'Prevention is better than cure.' While in a hurry to make some quick bucks by renting out our accommodation, let us also see to it as to not to get smoked out of our own house our self. 😌