Story of a “Muri” Beedi

Long before Westerners introduced Cigars or cigarette in India, rather southern Asia a small piece of tobacco roll ruled here called Beedi. If you still can’t relate, I need to remind you the song “Beedi jalaile” in which many of our heart throb (definitely not mine... and by the way this comment is not because that I am scared of my wife) was dancing in the movie Omkara. Yes, Now you should have got our hero who will be described whole of this episode.

Okie..But what’s this “Muri”. All my Malayalee readers would have understood that but for others I am taking you to the most of the prestigious and non-prestigious boy’s hostel, room stays. Before that why did I choose to narrate this story to you? I was in hotel Zuri for a meeting last week. I love food of Zuri, a lot of varieties. Eating a lot of chicken, I was almost about to quit eating chicken. Many of you know my obsession towards chicken and may be to maintain the food chain God didn’t like me to take that decision because he might have thought what he will do with these excess produced chicken if I stop eating those. But the issue is not about chicken, it is about after lunch a small chit chat with my colleagues which opened up Yaadein of hostel memories. I know this time it is not my yaadein it’s my colleague “Sadak ettan’s” yaadein. He didn’t know that I am using his name and fame to promote my blog.

Sadakettan (Ettan – brother, I think he may be a year or little more elder than me but I like calling him ettan) is one of the star performer of my company. I always see him thinking deep about the design and code. But while talking in common man’s terminology (in short when he comes out of software world) he is as funny and jovial as any one I have seen.

Back to our discussion, since it is after lunch we saw our regular smokers running out to take a puff and we saw the enthusiasm in them to keep them awake in the post lunch session. While joking on them Sadakettan told us his hostel incident which is true for many of us who stayed in hostel or rooms.
In the beginning of the month all of his friends use to get money from their parents for that month’s expense. Those who are smokers start with high end cigarette. They often stock packets for coming weeks to go promising that they won’t exceed that month quota. But as usual they will be over by almost First week of that month. Second week they lower their standard and share their brotherhood by sharing a same cigarette and even broken cigarette. Lord kubera might not have blessed all who can afford one more week of cigarette journey. Those who still can afford will have atleast ten to fifteen friends around them, a bike and they live in their world. But even common man need to live, there comes the saviour, king of poor.. Beedi. I don’t know the cost but I know for around 2-3 Rs people get a packet of 10.

Among all these friends there are few still considering themselves not that cheap. Even if you are penniless you cannot go behind beedi’s . Instead third week of the month they start searching for burnt cigarette pieces and they will manage it for another week. I heard there are extreme cases that they even search in Bus stop shelters for broken pieces who are chain smokers by nature and don’t have money. Whether it is true or false is not my issue, but what is common is all of them will come to the same platform of “Muri” or broken or burnt beedi’s almost at the end of fourth week.

I remember one of my college senior saying taking the last puff of his muri Beedi, “its easy for the parents to set rule and restrict money.. They don’t have to bother how we live here…”