'Carrying a pack of disease, not a pack of cigarettes'

In an attempt to raise awareness about the ills of smoking, students of Ramjas College, Delhi University organised a poster exhibition on Friday. It was a part of an awareness campaign.

Over 50 posters were displayed, including three winning entries from different Delhi University Colleges. Some posters were painted with messages like ‘You are carrying a pack of disease, not a pack of cigarette’, ‘smoking thrills but slowly kills’ and more.

“This exhibition was organised with an intent to tell students and other visitors about the amount of diseases a smoker can get and to make the youth aware about the ill-effects of smoking,” said Raushan Kumar Ratna and member of National Social Service Society (NSS) of the college.

The exhibition was a result of a poster competition that was held on January 30 in the campus.

Thirty NSS volunteers of Ramjas college were involved in a series of other campaigns also. “We also organised an essay-writing competition on ‘Awakening India’ which was in collaboration with Ramakrishna Mission and a blood donation camp in collaboration with All India Institute of Medical Sciences, there were 200 enrolments out of which 93 donations were successful,” said another member of NSS.

A senior college official said such awareness campaigns were the need of the hour. “The youths of this country has to be pro active in such activities. This is not just social work, this is about educating oneself and then using it in places and with people who are not aware about it. People keep saying  smoking is bad but only when somebody goes and talks to them, shows them the gory reality, only then do they start thinking. Youth should be aware about such things so that they can pass it on to others,” he said.

T-shirt painting

With the poster exhibition, a t-shirt painting competition was also held which was organised by the Botany Department of Ramjas College as a part of their ongoing festival 'Bloom'. “The theme of the  t-shirt painting competition was ‘My Valentine’. A botany student from Kirori Mal College (KMC) S Tryphena was given the first prize. The second and third prize winners were girls from Daulat Ram College,” said Avishek, student and organiser of the festival.