Soulful music for a cause on World No Tobacco Day

It will be a night filled with music at Rangsharda Auditorium in Bandra on World No Tobacco Day this Wednesday as Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA) is all set to join hands with the troupe of Salim -Suleiman for a cause.

"Music is the best way to reach out to the youth and draws in large crowds. We want to use the event as an opportunity to ask them to celebrate life and say no to tobacco," said Anita Peter, executive director, CPAA.

Popular music composers and siblings Salim and Sulaiman Merchant will start the concert at 6.30 pm with the song Aashayein from the movie Iqbal. "The song stands for hope, and the hope is to make the world a better place," Salim said.

The cause is close to the duo as their mother suffered from cancer. This is the third year in a row that they have been associated with the event. Through the event, the organisers hope to encourage the youth to give up tobacco.

"Tobacco is highly addictive, but at the same time the youth today are advanced and aware of the pitfalls. But we have a lot of cancer patients and it is a disease we need to get rid of," said Salim.

Peters added, "The tobacco industry gives the government a lot of revenue and there is nothing we can do to stop it, but we can increase the awareness in the hope that the youth don't get addicted to it.

Close to 50 per cent of all cancers are associated with consumption of tobacco in some form or the other.