Bye bye, hookah

Old habits...

Unhealthy!

Catch me if you can

(From top)A guest at Shisha enjoys his last hookah before the smoking ban took effect at midnight; A Coffee House regular flicks ash under his chair; A person smokes at Medical College and Hospital;A man takes a drag a metre away from a Sealdah bus stop. Pictures by Sanat Kumar Sinha, Bishwarup Dutta and Amit Datta

At the stroke of midnight, DJ Girish D of the Camac Street hookah bar Shisha signalled the end of “freedom to smoke in a public place” by playing the anthemic Sutta “one last time”. He then welcomed guests to a “smoke-free Calcutta”. But as the day dawned, it became clear that Calcutta’s puff brigade was not only reluctant to give up its “freedom” but also defiant about the ban. Metro went around town sniffing for smoke and came back choked.

Last Sutta at Shisha

Place: Shisha

When: Midnight, October 1

Scene: The watering hole wasn’t chock-a-block as usual, probably because the bar was to close at midnight. When the clock struck 12, cigarettes were stubbed out and the hookahs put away. “Ladies and gentlemen, we will never play this song again at Shisha,” DJ Girish D said, pumping up the volume with Sutta (slang for cigarette) for the last time.

Smoker’s voice: “I will miss my hookah. I don’t care much about drinks but sitting with a hookah in the company of friends is my idea of chilling out,” said Shisha regular Ankit Anchalia.

Officialspeak: “Business could initially decline by 35 per cent. But once people get used to the smoking ban, we expect it to settle at 10 per cent,” said Sovan Mukherjee, the manager of Shisha.

Ifs and butts

Place: Coffee House

Scene: The usual haze of smoke in one of the oldest institutions of College Street was absent on Thursday because of the national holiday. The other noticeable difference was that the tables had no ashtrays and the waiters weren’t providing matchboxes to those who wanted to smoke. But many of the regulars did not hesitate to light up and blow smoke rings in the air.

Smoker’s voice: “I am aware of the ban and I know that smoking here means breaking the law. But I can’t help it. It’s such an old habit. I was born and brought up in this area and I have been a Coffee House regular. You can’t expect me to kick the habit in one day, can you?” asked an elderly man who did not want to be named.

“Had there been a smoking zone, I would have definitely gone there to smoke,” he added, flicking the ash off his cigarette under the chair.

Officialspeak: “People have always been coming here to enjoy a cup of coffee with a cigarette. Many of our regulars argue that it will be difficult to impose the ban on smoking.

“But we cannot disregard the government notification. We have unofficially told the waiters to remove the ashtrays and request our clients not to smoke, but it will take some time for the ban to be followed by everyone. We will frame newspaper clippings on the ban and put them up for everyone to see the moment they enter this place. We wish the government would give us an official circular to display,” said Dipankar Dasgupta, a spokesperson for Coffee House.

Stub it out

Place: Medical College and Hospital

Scene: Some of those who were spotted smoking — mostly relatives of patients admitted to the hospital — claimed to be unaware of the ban. They stubbed out their bidis and cigarettes on being told the ban had come into effect at midnight. Personnel from the Bowbazar police outpost on the hospital premises, too, were unaware of the new law. One of them even lit up near the emergency ward.

Smoker’s voice: “I had no idea smoking on the premises was banned,” said Sudhir Dutta, a daily-wage worker from Howrah whose 22-day-old grandson was undergoing treatment for pneumonia. “It is a good rule. One shouldn’t smoke in a hospital,” the elderly man said, stubbing out his bidi.

Officialspeak: “The ban has just come into effect. It will take a few days for everyone to become aware of it. We are in the process of raising awareness among our staff so that they can help implement the ban. We will also speak to the police personnel at the hospital outpost about this,” said Anup Roy, the medical superintendent and vice-principal of the hospital.

Thin red line

Place: Bus stop near Sealdah flyover

Scene: Quite a few of those waiting for buses were puffing away, with at least one of them even demarcating a smoking zone at the bus stop.

Smoker’s voice: “This ridiculous law can’t stop me from smoking,” said Samir Dey, a resident of Bagha Jatin. “Smoking at a bus stop is not allowed but I am almost a metre away from it and on the road, which is not a public place if one goes by the book.”

The new law empowers conductors to slap fines but many of them were themselves smoking bidis, leaning against the doors of the buses that came and went.