No smoking, please!

Suchitra Krishnamurthiybelongs to a separate league of nicotine addicts altogether. The ingenious mommy, who usually smokes in the bathroom and the balcony, is always armed with a perfume bottle while puffing away, and religiously sprays it around before daughter Kaveri pops up at the scene. An alert Kaveri, however, manages to smell the tobacco and is quick to express her displeasure. After facing much flak from the 7-year-old, Suchitra is now trying hard to quit smoking.
Suchitra says, "If I smoke in the bathroom or balcony, Kaveri comes to know that I have puffed. If I smoke in the hall or the room, I try to mask the cigarette odour with perfumes but, I have failed. No matter how much perfume I spray after I finish my cigarette, Kaveri still smells the cigarette smoke. Then, she makes a face and clearly tells me that she doesn't like it."

Suchitra took up smoking as a stress buster nearly six years back when she was in London. Things were not going too well on her marriage front then. She says, "I took to smoking out of sheer boredom. The number slowly increased to 25 cigarettes a day. Today, the situation is better and I am down to smoking eight cigarettes a day. But, I just can't give it up."

Suchitra, however, has succeeded in kicking the habit many times in the past after resorting to the common means of using Zyban tablets (an anti-depressant drug used to relieve withdrawal symptoms after one stops smoking), patches and hypnotherapy. She adds, "I have tried every trick in the book. From sheer will power, to nicotine patches and Zyban, to joining quit-smoking support groups and yes, even hypnosis. I succeeded five times, but I went back to smoking again."

However, she has decided to strive harder this time. She says, "I have firmly decided that I will win the battle against cigarettes. I hope to completely and permanently quit smoking by the end of this year."

SOurce: mumbaimirror.com