Sushmita Bhandary, Nepal
This comes from a 4th year medical student who believes that even though counselling might seem tough it really brings the change. When i came to know that my best friend had started smoking because he could not cope with the stress of his workplace and the challenge of maintaining his grades, this left me in stitches. Then I started sending him this message daily -"How can a tiny white stick be more powerful than my best friend whom i have known for decades?", along with other doses of message daily including the risks of smoking. I also gave him with the example of one of my neighbours who had to struggle with lung cancer because of the same cigarettes he had been pleasuring himself with.Thankfully this daily dose of counselling helped ease his stress and with time he reduced the number of cigarettes he smoked per day and yes now I proudly say - I have been able to make my stubborn best friend quit smoking, then why can't we all do it to anybody? So I think it's a bit presumptuous these days to judge anyone just because they are holding a cigarette; rather counseling in a nonjudgmental way could be the best option.