Cancer sticks go up in smoke at Bandra Fort

Smoking is uncool, is the message at Loud and Proud, India's first smoke-free concert, where the performing artists are top notch and entry is free

Smoking is uncool, is the message at Loud and Proud, India's first smoke-free concert, where the performing artists are top notchu00a0 and entry is free

He smoked for 20 years at a stretch before deciding to give it up. "And boy, does it feel good!" said singer and stand-up comic Ash Chandler, as he readied for a photo op with members of SWAT at Bandra Fort.

Today, he joins forces with artists and rock bands for a smoke-free concert by SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco). An initiative by EMDI students since 2004, the preventive initiative tirelessly convinces the youth to "stop the first smoke". Research has shown that if you don't pick your first cigarettes between the age of 14 to 23, it is most likely that you will be non-smokers throughout your life. Says Deepak Choudhary, Managing Director of EMDI, "Smoking does nothing to enhance social acceptability."

Spreading the "non-smoking is cool" message with their performances will be solo artists Sharon Prabhakar, Jimmy (Aasma) and Rhys and rock bands Reverb, BlakC, Sceptre, Radio, Vidyadhar Bhave and A Detached Foundation.

For non-smoker, non-drinker Jimmy Felix, tobacco has no redeeming qualities. "It's a poison that shortens the happy days." Sharon Prabhakar believes that with cigarettes "you lose everything your health, wealth, life."

On headlining metal band Sceptre's playlist is the original anti-smoking track Charred. The band's frontman Teemeer Chimulkar, himself a non-smoker for the last six years, was inspired to write the lyrics after seeing a train accident on national news. Says the vocalist, "All the passengers in the train were burned to death because someone had carelessly thrown a burning cigarette near a gas cylinder in the pantry. The passenger obviously died in the fire, but he also took others with him."

On December 2 at Bandra Amphitheatre, Bandra Fort, near Taj Land's End, Bandstand, Bandra (W). Gates open at 5 pm. Call: Christopher on 9819234319
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