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Rush said the usher and hurriedly led me to my seat in the bus bound to Bhavnagar. The bus immediately set into motion . I quickly settled into my seat, which was by the window. The weather in Ahmedabad was extremely humid and I hoped the bus in motion would bring in a cool breeze and drift me to sleep. Instead came smoke with the acrid smell of tobacco. I looked around, almost all men were smoking merrily. I wanted to object and looked at my neighbour, who did not smoke, for support. He was not opening his mouth and gave a vague nod. I prodded him further. He got up, ha ! he is gonna tell them in their lingua , I thought triumphantly. He turned towards me, leaned beyond me, the neck going outside window and spat whole lot of red saliva ,wiped his mouth and asked what is wrong ? .Our campaign in Gujarat started then …

The weeklong long awareness program in the costal towns of Saurahstra was undertaken by the trust beginning on 25th June 05. While I spend 2 days, Mrs. Jayalakshmi Krishnan, trustee continued the campaign till the 30th June. The tour was coordinated by Mr. P. N. Hariharan, Manager ,J.M.Baxi & Co ,Pipavav port. He had taken great pains in organizing this tour ,did a reconnaissance and accompanied us throughout. The trust is indeed thankful to him.

Day 1
Bhavnagar was founded as a port in 1743 by Bhavsinji Gohil ,a rajput ruler. Till date it serves as important trading post for cotton products. It is also well known for its Educational institutions. In fact Gandhiji graduated from here.

Our day began here with an interview with a local TV channel and then we proceeded to the schools. Nearly 1000 children from four schools were educated through power point presentation and posters. It was realized that the usage of pan parag was almost universal .Some children were even using during school hours .The principals expressed their helplessness in dissuading the children form this habit . This presentation they hoped will bring in sense in them..

Simultaneously sessions were on in other establishments. At the Soda Ash factory of Nirma which is about 40 km form Bhavnagar ,60 odd employees gathered in their seminar hall. A few of them were well informed about cancer. The gathering listened attentively and asked relevant doubts.

We were shocked when we entered the premises of Head office of Bank of Saurashtra. The walls of corridors after corridors were stained red with spits form countless men and women. It is not unusual to find such a site in public places like bus stands or railway stations but in a corporate office this was our first encounter. In fact when we entered Bhavnagar , we saw most people have a ruminant look. Like the bovines that constantly chew cud so were men folk, across age groups and social sections, chewing tobacco. And when all the elixir has been sapped what else to do but spit! For the talk here a few employees came in, most of them reluctantly. But to our surprise showed keen interest and thanked us profusely for the enlightenment. Howsoever long be the night, dawn definitely breaks!

At the Investment & Precision Castings Ltd we encountered bright scientists, young and old, who were thirsty for knowledge. It was a pleasure giving more and more details to a crowd that yearned for more.

Around 150 girl students from the SNDT Mahila College and the professors were addressed next. The girls were very shy and no amount of prodding could make them come out of their shell to ask questions. A professor who was a survivor enquired about details of treatment in case she relapsed.

The people we met here were happy that such programs were conducted in their town. A pschyology professor was so overcome with gratefulness that she pulled out a thousand rupees, thrust it into her hands and urged us to continue such activities. If one encouraged another tried to finish us of. Sadly this came from a medical practitioner. He was unhappy that we conducted such an activity in his jurisdiction, without his permission and without his participation. It takes all kinds of people to make the world!

Day 2
At Pipavav port there were separate sessions for men and women .After the talk to 75 men , a person was heard saying loudly to his group of three , the doctor said one out of three smokers get cancer and I and you will not get and he is gonna get it. Sadly in this inky pinky ponky, we don’t know who gets eliminated! Several factors have to interplay with Tobacco smoke for lung cancer to develop, that is why only one third of smokers get cancer otherwise all hundred of them would get. But sadly one cannot predict who is the “ one “ out of “ three”. Thirty ladies attended the session that had a special emphasis on Breast and cervical cancer.

Peacocks greeted us when we entered the township of Narmada Cements at Jafferabad. Most people were enjoying their siesta after the Sunday lunch. The company doctor literally went door-to-door gathering people for the talk. About 25 broke their slumber and came for the session. Amongst them was a cancer survivor, a young man of 18 yrs, who bravely enquired about treatment related complications. The enthusiastic company doctor, who is a gynaecologist assured us that he will make PAP smear a routine in his clinic. Awesome!

From here we rushed to Ultratech cements . The gathering awaiting us here included the Vice president of the company and a large number of senior officials. They were impressed by our slide presentation and wanted us to spend a day educating all their 700 employees. A large number of the workers use gutka and nearly 40 of them have oral submucous fibrosis. Some of them can barely insert one finger in their mouth, the company doctor said. . This was an alarming figure. We promised to return and sped to our next program, which was about 100 km away at Mahuva.

Mahuva is called the Srinagar of Saurahstra for its endowment of greenery. Murari Bapu , an exponent of Ram katha has placed this town in the international Map. His ashram attracts disciples from all over the world. His close associate and local MLA ,Dr.Kanubhai Kalsariya presided over the public function which was held in association with the Jaycees Club at Patel Wadi . Despite heavy rains a congregation of more than 300 was seated here. One third of them were adolescent boys who probably had picked up habit of using tobacco sticks while their moustaches sprouted. The entire audience was rapt in attention despite being late hours ( the session went on till 10.45 pm) and rain pouring incessantly. This was evident from the doubts they clarified. The session was glorified further when a few members from audience which included a chain smoker came up to the stage and took an oath publicly quit the habit . Bravo !

I rushed to catch the bus back to Ahmedabad .Drenched and hungry but the heart filled with happiness with what we did in the previous 48 hours . Added to that the passenger next to me did not lean to spit and the passenger in the seat ahead did not smoke !

Day 3
Two schools were addressed in Mahuva that day. About 200 girls were shown a set of 35 posters, which detailed the ill effects of tobacco. It was impressed upon them they could play big role in dissuading their parents form continuing this habit. More than an outsider when their own daughter or sister who is dear to them, explains the demerits, they probably would quit. Heavy rains lashed and washed out the programs of the remaining day.

Day 4
Kalidasa likens clouds to elephants and rain their sweat in his Ritusmahara. Here at Mahuva it seemed like the elephants have come in hordes and wanted to literally sweat it out. The heavg rains had washed away the bridge which connected Una to Mahuva. But this did not deter us . We took a detour that delayed our arrival at Una by 3 hours. It was too late by then and we had to cancel the program here and proceeded to Diu where 300 children were waiting for us at the Govt . School. Dr. Vaishaya ,who had helped in organizing this program assured us of more such programs.

The next session in this Portuguese settlement , now a part of Goa, was at the Municipal Hall . This public function was presided by District collector, Mr. Ranbir Singh, IAS. For the 200 –odd who had gathered all this was something new. But with avid interest they sat through the talk. The ladies then had a separate lec dem of Breast self-exam.

It was shocking to learn that this beautiful place having 40, 000 population did not have a single gynaecologist. Such specialists come form Veraval at Periodic intervals. Dr. Vaishya said that he would take up the initiative of getting a regular gynaecoligist to Diu and making PAP smear a regular practice. Wow!

Day 5
Somnath temple housing one of the 12 jyothirlingas stands in a stately poise on the shores of Arabian sea. Mohammmed Ghazini looted the temple off its riches in the 10th century. The temple as it stands today was restored by the efforts of Sardar Patel and was declared open by Babu Rajendra Prasad , the first President of India in 1950s.

About 6 kms form here is the town of Veraval . A place known for its spectacular view of the fishing port and beach side jogging path. The talks here were in 2 schools .At St Mary’s 150 children seated themselves to listen about ill effects of tobacco. At the end of talk 40 of them wanted to buy our book and learn more. Such gesture from school students was encountered for the first time. The Management went a step further bought an additional 10 number of books and topped it with a donation of Rs. 1000/ . We were simply overwhelmed with this response. At Maniben Kotak school 300 students sat awestruck learning dangers of tobacco use.

At Gujarat Sidhee cements 40 employees were present for the session and almost all of them were tobacco users. Like elsewhere they expressed their helplessness in quitting the Habit. We assured to provide counseling to help quit the habit. The public meeting was held in association with Lohana Mahajan Samaj. It was between 10 pm and 11pm and it was raining heavily. Despite that ,the session attracted 50 people. Rain or storm night day, the flag of awareness will fly full mast.

Day 6
Excitedly we reached Porbandar where the Father of our Nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born. On this last day of our tour we looked forward to an inspiring experience in this costal town. Sadly it was to the contrary. It was a congested town with rampant use of tobacco generating an immediate feeling of aversion.

We addressed two schools. One School had students which included girls openly admitting the usage of tobacco (In Bapu’s town one speaks only Truth !) .At the other school the students remained indifferent to the whole proceedings.

The last day left us unsatisfied. Probably nature wanted it that way .If were satisfied we will not come back. This gesture will bring us again to Saurashtra , where we feel awareness is required in immense quantity. In the 6 days of our stay here we are happy that we have ignited a few minds. Despite the dampness in the air we hope these fires will keep burning and extinguish those coming from tobacco sticks.