No smoking resolution affects city vendors, only for a week or two

No smoking resolution affects city vendors, only for a week or two





Thought that your resolution of kicking the butt was strong enough?

Think again. At least for a large section of people, most resolutions are made only to be broken. And the city's start-of-theyear vow of `no smoking' is only a temporary thing, lasting not more than a fortnight. Local paan waalas and stall owners admit that though they see a dip in their sales thanks to these resolutions, they rarely see their customers quit entirely .

`IT'S NOT EASY TO QUIT'

Babulnath Tiwarti, of a paan stall at Bhulabhai Desai Road, says there is at least a 25 per cent decline in business owing to this.“People make up their minds to quit at the start of the new year and we brace ourselves, as this does affect business. But this is not for long. Yes, some do manage to quit, but most people are back soon,“ he says.For some, it's not even a week and the resolve is broken in just a few days. Says Satyam Chaurasia of a paan stall near Kandivali, “Log New Year pey pehley cigarette chhodne ki qasam kha letey hain, lekin itney jaldi tod dete hain; kya karein aadat se majboor hain.“ Cigarette stall owner Mohan Shetty from Vile Parle says it's a social thing, so it's not easy to let go. “Mostly office-goers try and reduce it -they go from one packet to a few loose cigarettes and tell me they want to cut it down further, but it's difficult for them. The younger lot find it difficult to do even that.“
It's about mind control, believes Ganesh Chaurasia of a stall in Vile Parle West.“People say they want to quit every New Year. Yeh mahine bhar ka naatak hota hain but business does get affected. But then vaapas pee letey hain. They say one cigarette is harmless and with that, they start all over again,“ he says. E CIGS IN DEMAND Smokers also try electronic cigarettes to help them quit. “Some people want to try an e-cig before they can quit completely and they make enquiries on how and where to get these,“ says e-retailer Bhargav Goluguntla from Bangalore.