Brisk business: Fancy hookahs are flying off the shelves and shop owners in the city are pleased as  punch with this latest trend. PIC/Urvashi Seth

Scared that the high court will shut hookah bars, several youngsters are queuing up at shops to buy their own hookahs. 

The BMC's health department has intensified its drive against hookahs after the HC's encouragement last week to shut eateries that serve them. Several restaurants have  licence to serve only food and they break the law under Section 394 of the BMC Act when they provide hookahs.

College student Rohan Motwani (18) and his friends have chipped in to buy two hookahs.
"After the BMC crackdown on hookah joints, my friends and I have bought them for Rs 3,500. You never know when hookah bars may shut down. My family has no problems with me smoking hookah," he said.

Yogita Das (19, name changed) too bought a hookah worth Rs 1,300 with his friends on Saturday. "As my mother doesn't know about me puffing hookah, we are planning to keep it at a friend's place," she said.

Suvidha's Collection Store at Crawford Market has seen a rise in youngsters buying hookahs. "There is a drop in hookah sales from restaurateurs, but youngsters buy them in groups."

The step of banning hookah parlours was taken after Mayor Shubha Raul visited a Café Mocha outlet on May 9 this year, and advised the youngsters to stop smoking hookahs, as she felt they were getting addicted.

Desi hookah

The hookah is commonly associated with the Arab world, but not many know that it has its origins in India. The single glass-based water smoke pipe is a popular mode of smoking across the sub-continent, the Arabian peninsula and Europe.