It was not easy for 13-year-old partially blind Siddhesh Patil, who played the role of older Arvind in 'Slumdog Millionaire', to get his mother quit tobacco addiction.

But Siddhesh, determined to save his mother, succeeded in doing it.

Siddhesh is part of Salaam Bombay Foundation's (SBF) anti-tobacco drive and took inspiration from this campaign to persuade his mother to quit the habit of tobacco chewing.

SBF is an NGO that starves for the right of tobacco free world for every child.

“Few people from SBF came to our school and were imparting us knowledge on the ill-effects of tobacco. I used to see my mother having tobacco since my childhood but was not aware about its hazards. Later I decided I will ensure she stops taking it,” Siddhesh told PTI.

It took Siddesh a month to finally get his mother, Shanti a housewife, to get rid of the habit of taking tobacco. Like Siddesh, there are several other students from civic-run schools in the city, who are part of the anti-tobacco drive.

On account of the World Cancer Day, SBF today organised 'Art against Tobacco, Showcase 2010'. Nearly 2,500 students from 147 BMC-run schools took part in music, art and theatre competition to spread the message of ‘tobacco matlab khallas’.

“As students from civic schools are more prone to tobacco addiction, we inform them about the ill-effects of consuming it and what harm it can do them,” SBF's COO Seema Sood said.

SBF empowers children to wage war against tobacco with unique weapons of art, music and theatre. These students in turn spread awareness against tobacco among their peers and in their community.

Khushnuma Khan, 13, who made the entire area near Mahim police station tobacco free in a day, said, “Today we see not only old but even young children taking tobacco. It is bit easy to convince old people than children.”

A few months ago, Khushnuma who was on her way to home, found college boys smoking near the Mahim police station next to ‘No Smoking’ board.

“I went inside the police station and told the officers that I'm proud of how you can protect us from danger when you cannot protect yourself from tobacco,” she said.Thereafter the police officers ensured that the area near the police station is tobacco free.

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