MYSURU: Former chief minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday advised the younger generation against falling prey to bad habits. Inaugurating a cancer check-up camp here, Siddaramaiah recalled how he had been addicted to smoking and called it quits one day.
“I used to smoke 40 cigarettes per day. Once my friends had brought a box of foreign cigarettes. Elated, I had emptied the same in a day, only to question myself later with a tinge of guilt.It was the day, 31 years ago I stopped smoking. Such is the level of aversion till date that, I can’t even tolerate the smell that emanates after smoke now,” he said.
Bemoaning over youngsters easily getting addicted to the bad habits, especially smoking, caring a hoot for the pictorial warning on the pack, Siddaramaiah said: “It’s better to quit early than being diagnosed of cancer as it is widely believed that smokers develop cancer in the later stage.
Whenever it is detected, it is mostly at the final and critical stage and nobody can be sure of surviving from the same whether they are treated at home or abroad. One can be only assured of better treatment at foreign countries, but there is no guarantee of survival.”