I've always thought that my friends are useless but guess what..they managed to occupy their place in the front page of THE TIMES OF INDIA (ahmedabad version - 5th novemeber 2007).
Check out the following article.
Hookah no bar at home
Ahmedabad: It’s hip, it’s cool and it’s in...but it’s also banned, at least, in public places. Which is why, there’s all the more reason to take the fad home.
The city hookah bars downed shutters after police officials cracked down on several of these on August 27, citing reasons like minors taking to smoking and restaurants violating licensing norms. But this was no dampener for city’s youngsters.
Tapan Bhagat, a young businessman, headed for the nearest antique shop to get a hookah of his own. Today, his home is a hang-out for his friends, flushed with flavoured molasses, tobacco and hookah as accompaniments.
Get-togethers over a hookah have hit conservative homes too. Tapan (21) says, “Initially, my mother did not like the idea at all. But when I explained her that hookah was not harmful and promised that the house would not smell of flavoured tobacco, she was convinced. Later, my father also tried it and now, sometimes both of us smoke together”.
For Sahil Sheth (21), who is pursuing a masters degree in commerce, smoking a hookah at home is more fun. Sahil says, “I have had hookah at home for a long time, but now I use them frequently. I found that smoking hookah at home was more fun as I can set the ambience according to my taste.”
Some have even gone to the extent of getting ingredients for their newfound interest from abroad. “A friend of mine who was in the US got me the self-lighting coal which does not need a sigdi but can be lit by a match-stick,” said Sahil. Anand Swami (25), a corporate executive, felt hookah bars were expensive. “At the hookah bars, having hookah followed by food would cost us nothing less than Rs 700. At home, I can enjoy the same hookah for just Rs 4,” he says.
With police having banned ‘hookah bars’ in Ahmedabad, youths have procured their own and enjoy puffing at home
Courtesy : Vasundhara Vyas TNN
(THE TIMES OF INDIA)
The city hookah bars downed shutters after police officials cracked down on several of these on August 27, citing reasons like minors taking to smoking and restaurants violating licensing norms. But this was no dampener for city’s youngsters.
Tapan Bhagat, a young businessman, headed for the nearest antique shop to get a hookah of his own. Today, his home is a hang-out for his friends, flushed with flavoured molasses, tobacco and hookah as accompaniments.
Get-togethers over a hookah have hit conservative homes too. Tapan (21) says, “Initially, my mother did not like the idea at all. But when I explained her that hookah was not harmful and promised that the house would not smell of flavoured tobacco, she was convinced. Later, my father also tried it and now, sometimes both of us smoke together”.
For Sahil Sheth (21), who is pursuing a masters degree in commerce, smoking a hookah at home is more fun. Sahil says, “I have had hookah at home for a long time, but now I use them frequently. I found that smoking hookah at home was more fun as I can set the ambience according to my taste.”
Some have even gone to the extent of getting ingredients for their newfound interest from abroad. “A friend of mine who was in the US got me the self-lighting coal which does not need a sigdi but can be lit by a match-stick,” said Sahil. Anand Swami (25), a corporate executive, felt hookah bars were expensive. “At the hookah bars, having hookah followed by food would cost us nothing less than Rs 700. At home, I can enjoy the same hookah for just Rs 4,” he says.
With police having banned ‘hookah bars’ in Ahmedabad, youths have procured their own and enjoy puffing at home
Courtesy : Vasundhara Vyas TNN
(THE TIMES OF INDIA)
