Pressure Forces Youngsters to Smoke

Most college-going students in urban cities are increasingly turning to cigarettes to puff their worries and stress away.

According to a survey conducted by WHO, globally 1.1 billion people smoke and about one-third of them are below 16 years of age.

Most underage girls and boys pick up smoking in the company of their friends. Some feel that the peer pressure is hard to resist. "I never wanted to smoke. It was my friends constant insistence that forced me to smoke," says Akshay Kapur, a BBA student who smokes 15 cigarettes a day.

The same happened with Kanishka Sharma, 15. "All my friends are smokers. I just wanted to be a part of the group. I wanted to see how it was and I got addicted," says Kanishka."Now I find it extremely difficult to study for long hours without having a cigarette. I need a puff after every 20 minutes," she further adds. Other than the influence of friends, most say they started smoking because they thought it was a cool thing to do.

"I always used to think that only intellectual people smoke. I first started it as I wanted to imitate my father's style of smoking, gradually it became a habit and now I find it hard to break this vicious circle," says Ruchit Mehra, 14. "Smoking helps me to get rid of my emotional problems and mental stress.

Just one puff and I forget all my worries, it calms me down," says Harsh Mudgul, 16, who first took up smoking when he was 10 years old.

For some kids, smoking is an easy way to say goodbye to depression. For Nishi Arora, a student of Class 9, a cigarette is the best way to destress. "I experience a euphoric feeling every time I smoke, it makes me quite relaxed," she says.

BOLLYWOOD CONNECTION
Bollywood has alwaysDev smoking showcased villains as well as actors on-screen. Veteran actor Anand set the trend among actors, of smoking on-screen with the song, Main zindagi ka sath nubhata chala gaya, har fikar ko dhuen me udata chala gaya. Since then many actors have continued the tradition. Shah Rukh Khan did it in Don, Ajay Devgan and Saif Ali Khan did it in Omkara. The list is endless.

But things changed after the survey conducted by WHO, which clearly blamed films for pushing youngsters towards smoking. Reacting to the survey, the government has banned images of actors smoking from all Indian movies and television shows as they promoted a product that is injurious to health