‘No Need Of A Sixth Finger’: Inspiring Stories of Ex-Smokers Who Quit the Bad Habit

According to the latest report from the World Health Organization (WHO), there are approximately 1.1 billion smokers in the world, of which 100 million are from India. This alarming figure is expected to almost double in the next two years.

‘It’s never too late to quit smoking’: India is reeling under a growing smoking crisis, with young people becoming addicted to this unhealthy habit at a very young age. According to the latest report from the World Health Organization (WHO), there are approximately 1.1 billion smokers in the world, of which 100 million are from India. This alarming figure is expected to almost double in the next two years.

In the midst of this growing smoking crisis in the country, there are people who have managed to quit this bad habit and now lead a healthy life.

According to these ex-smokers, quitting has positively changed their lives.

Isha Gazmer, a college student, quit smoking after nine years. Her first experience with smoking occurred when she was only 11 years old. She was surrounded by a community where tobacco smoking was not only common, but also encouraged, along with marijuana, as part of the culture. “Starting at such a young age, I didn’t realize the impact until a few years later when my doctors warned me that it was affecting my organs, especially my lungs and kidneys. I was also diagnosed with PCOD (Polycystic Ovarian Disease), which seemed to hit rock bottom,” said Gazmer, an English (Honours) student at Selesian College in Siliguri, West Bengal.

Mounting health-related stress pushed Gazmer into a severe depression, and he realized that the only way to get better was to distance himself from his addiction. Her saying no after 9 years of smoking she not only helped her heal physically, but also gave her career and mental health a boost.

Tarun Shekhar Jha, a 36-year-old yoga instructor living in Japan, started smoking when he was 20 and soon developed a chain-smoking habit. “When I would go to a club with my best friend and others, I would only drink cold drinks or juice, which made people call me a boy,” Shekhar said. “To fit in, I started smoking without much thought.” Social pressure led him to harm his own health.

“I used to run and take last-minute buses to work. But when I started smoking, I started to feel physically weak. I didn’t realize until one day that I couldn’t run to catch a bus in a hurry. That moment of inability, combined with guilt and shame, made me kick the habit. Since I quit smoking, I feel rejuvenated, both physically and mentally,” she said. Jha quit smoking after three years.

“The cool image of smoking cigarettes was attractive. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, when people used to rent VCR movies, they often showed advertisements for cigarettes, designed to look fancy,” said Manpreet Singh, who quit smoking after 14 years.

He explains how associating smoking with being ‘cool’ can be dangerous, silently luring people into a habit that not only harms the smoker’s health but also affects those around them. Singh smoked his first cigarette when he turned 18. “At first, he smoked casually, just one or two cigarettes a week in social settings. But it gradually increased and I became dependent on nicotine to cope with the stress of my demanding job, which led to chain smoking. It took time for me to realize that my lack of purpose in life was leading me towards addiction. When my ex-wife showed me a pregnancy strip, the responsibility she represented motivated me to quit smoking for good,” he says. Today, in addition to his profession as a healer, he proudly helps others in their battle against addiction and supports them in building a smoke-free life.

Born and raised in Tamil Nadu, Shahjahan, 67, started smoking during his teenage years. “As a factory worker, I started with cigarettes and bidis and kept smoking for about forty years. Although he was not a heavy smoker, he smoked between 10 and 12 cigarettes a day,” Shahjahan said. He was ashamed of his smoking habit because he spent so much money on cigarettes. Shahjahan quit smoking after 40 years and now he helps others who want to quit.

Shahjahan also published a book documenting his journey titled “Avasiyamthaana Aaraam Viral?” which means “Why have a sixth finger?”