Kick the butt, say Mumbai college students

On a busy evening outside Eros Theatre recently, the usual scenario of pedestrians jostling for space as buses passed by, changed for a whole seven minutes. It was when a group of college students got people to stop, stare and applaud. And for good reason. They were making an appeal to Mumbaikars to kick the butt, in an oral cancer awareness drive with the Indian Dental Association and senior doctors.
Many start smoking, calling it ‘timepass’

Students perform a street play outside Eros Theatre
This event was for National Oral Cancer Awareness Month. By 4 pm, 75 NSS students from Kirti M Doongursee College, Dadar and MGM Dental College, Navi Mumbai, gathered at the venue. They held banners and large cardboard cigarette cutouts with the words — ‘Smoke away your worries, not your lungs’, ‘Kill cigarette before it kills you’ and ‘Be smart don’t start’.
After a show of banners and slogans, it was time for their main purpose — a play. Meant to drive home a stern message, it saw them form into a set-up that depicted how the cigarette habit starts off among the youth and soon turns into a deadly fad. As students performed the play, it brought out a burst of emotions on the street — from loss, to sadness and regret. Several Mumbaikars who had stopped to watch, gave them a rousing applause. Says FYJC Commerce student Rakesh Palsankar, “Through our play, we wanted to talk about oral cancer. Many think that smoking decreases stress levels and start the habit by saying its “timepass”, but it is so harmful.” NSS student Pratham Chavan says they came up with the play after ideating during free lectures. “It turned out to be so motivating,” he states.
On streets, at stations

It’s not the first time they did such a performance in the city. FYJC Science student Kshitija Mayekar spoke about how going local helped make an impact. “We did the play outside Siddhivinayak Temple and key local railway stations so that we can drive home our message. It was great to see the response, everywhere people stopped and asked us questions. If one person in a group quits smoking, others can.”
Nrupali Chitnis, project manager of NDA, says such a street play is to create awareness. “It’s for and by college kids as we want to tap the habit at its onset.” FYBCom student Sanika Borkar, adds, “Many of my friends had taken up smoking and I felt helpless as I could not stop them. I hope other campuses take up such drives to warn against cigarettes. Smoking is definitely not cool.”
‘Pictorial warnings in films not enough’

Making a point with banners
Dr Visalakshmi Shivaraman from the Indian Dental Association (IDA) says the students have made a huge impact. “We started off at Prabhadevi and have conducted plays at Dadar, CST, Churchgate, Panvel, Andheri, Vashi and Kurla,” she informs. Dr Yash Mathur reiterates the role of the youth in this. “There is an increase in incidence of oral cancer, especially tongue cancers, among the youth. Earlier, the main target of oral cancer-related habits used to be those in the 4th and 5th generation of life. Over the last few years, we have seen an increase in consumption of tobacco amongst youngsters. In a similar age, a person can educate his or her friend and chances of leaving the smoking habit are high. Also, pictorial warnings in films are not enough, the youth needs knowledge of the hazards of tobacco consumption,” he states.
Dr Ashok Dhoble, Honorary Secretary General of the IDA shares a few alarming statistics. “Oral Cancer cases are on the rise in the country. Tobacco is also the cause for 1.5 lakh cancers, 4.2 million heart diseases and 3.7 million lung diseases every year. The scenario is unlikely to improve in the near future,” he warns.
Why not tap workplaces?
Pratibha Bishwas, NSS programme officer makes a few relevant points. “Today, so many students smoke outside college premises. Inside, we can stop them, but what do we do when they sneak outside and smoke? Also, such rallies and plays are relevant, but how about also involving corporate offices that are a hotbed for the smoking habit. Offices need to come out on the street and take up anti-smoking drives. Let’s act as one to make a greater impact,” she says.
At Juhu Beach, students pick up 4,000 cigarette butts on a clean-up drive

SST College Students on a cigarette clean-up drive at Juhu Beach
On Sunday morning, students of SST College of Commerce, Ulhasnagar, and Mission Green Mumbai, embarked on an activity to clean Juhu Beach of cigarette butts. Says law student Bhavya Shah, “Close to 4,000 butts were picked up in just one hour and in a radius of 100 metres.” Adds professor Mayur Mathur of the college, “Smoking is banned in public spaces, but people continue to do so and throw the butts around, making it harmful to humans and to the environment. Our request is to the government to put up more signs saying action will be taken against those who are errant. The butts that were collected today will be shown to college students to warn them against smoking. We have done several such anti-smoking campaigns such as skits on busy chowks and in college premises, as well poster-making competitions, and on March 1 we plan to do another mega anti-smoking drive on Juhu Beach. More city college students should come forward to volunteer. It will make a difference, as the youth are the future.”
Alarming statistics
- Tobacco is the cause for 1.5 lakh cancers, 4.2 million heart diseases and 3.7 million lung diseases every year.
- Nearly 5,000 youth in India take to use of the tobacco every year.
- 14 crore men and 4 crore women are addicted to tobacco.
- 57% of male population in the age group of 15-49 years use tobacco, while the percentage in the female population in the same age group is a tenth.