Fifty-five-year old Makon Kalita says she has never taken such a big decision before,that too without consulting her husband and family. Last Thursday as Sahpuriya,a village on the outskirts of Jorhat in upper Assam,hosted a function to mark the World Anti-Tobacco Day,Kalita was the first to raise her hand and declare she was giving up tobacco. Sahpuriya,a village with 340 households,is working overtime to create a record of sorts. The 1,500-odd residents of this village have resolved to give up tobacco and make their village the countrys first tobacco-free village. Though till recently,many of its residents regularly took tobacco with their tamul-paan,learning about the ills of tobacco has made them reconsider their habit. Sahpuriya has been adopted by a local collegeJorhat College and the college was instrumental in making the village aware of the effects of tobacco and even helped it observe World Tobacco Day. The college had earlier roped in Dr Bhaktimay Bhattacharyya,district nodal officer for tobacco control,and his team to launch this campaign. We know it is difficult. But it is not impossible. The name of our village has been derived from the word sahas,meaning courage,and as the legend goes,one of our forefathers had saved a member of the royal family by killing a king cobra a couple of centuries ago. We carry this courage in our blood, says Dipjyoti Kalita,secretary of the village library,who is also pursuing a course in plastic technology in the Industrial Training Institute at Jorhat. Sahpuriya is now using some of this courage to attack its addiction. In fact,it has been chasing its dream of becoming the first tobacco-free village for over six months now. It all began when I read an article on the establishment of a tobacco control cell in our district. I contacted Dr Bhaktimay Bhattacharyya,the nodal officer of the cell,and asked him if he could come and speak to our villagers. He agreed,and that was the beginning, says Ramen Saikia,a youth from the village who became secretary of the Sahpuriya Tobacco Control Cell,an umbrella organisation that touches almost every family of the village. Saikia,a proof-reader in a local newspaper,spends six to seven hours every day coordinating and monitoring the campaign. Womens Day this March was a turning point. It was on this day that Dr Bhattacharyya came and showed us a series of slides on the ill-effects of tobacco, says Bobby Saikia,president of Alok-Sandhani Mahila Samiti which has all the women of the village as its members. Soon,various organisations of Sahpuriya,right from the Shiva temple committee to the village naam-ghar,the kala-krishti sangha to the village library committee,came together under one umbrella. We have so far organised at least 20 meetings in different locations of the village hammering on the same issue. If some meetings were held in the mahila samiti,some were held in the village naam-ghar,so that the message goes out to every household, says Saikia. Saikia and his team,which has 40 people representing different age-groups,has been trained by Dipti Saikia,who works as a social worker with the Jorhat District Tobacco Control Cell. This team kicked off its campaign from the house of a resident who is known to be the oldest tobacco-consuming person in the village. I was chewing tobacco since my childhood and smoking since 1958. But now I feel like I have started life anew, says Kulanath Kalita,70,a retired defence personnel hailing from this village. I did not know tobacco was so dangerous until this programme came to our village, says Rina Saikia,58,who has been consuming tobacco with tamul-paan for nearly 20 years. The youth are now following their elders. I consumed gutkha for two months after having picked it up from a friend. But now,not only have I given it up,I am also giving my spare time to this campaign, says Bikram Kalita,a student of class X in Sankaradev Seminary. The district administration too says its ready to help the village. We are happy that a village has resolved to eradicate tobacco consumption. It is difficult,especially given the fact that tamul-paan,of which tobacco is almost inseparable,is part of our Assamese culture. But we have assured them of all help required from the administration, says Ramesh Chand Jain,deputy commissioner of Jorhat.
