Thanks to a special initiative taken by the police, the Centre's directive against smoking in public places has had an impressive result in Kerala, where a High Court ban is already in place since 1999.

But smokers are now turning to theatres and public toilets, which are difficult to monitor. "Smoking in public places is even otherwise punishable in the state since 1999, following a High Court directive. But what the recent ban has done is to take up the issue more seriously, demanded the police to be more effective," says Police Commissioner Anoop Kuruvilla John.

The ban has been "reasonably well-enforced" in the state even earlier, when the guilty had to personally appear in the Court to pay a fine upto Rs 500, he says, adding that on an average, about 350 cases were booked a month in Kozhikode alone till recently.

Though the October 2 directive, a pet project of Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, calls for banning smoking in cinema halls, pubs and restaurants, among other places, smoking continues inside theatres during intervals. "It is very difficult for us to tell the audience not to smoke during the break, as we find it tough to provide them a smoking zone," says a manager of a cinema hall.

However, preferring anonymity, he says that a majority of the audience want to strictly adhere to the recent ban, not out of willingness, but for fear of being caught in public.

In neighbouring Malappuram district, smokers are seeking sanctuary in use-and-pay public toilets. Of course, they feel no policeman would wish to bear the stink for long for the sake of nabbing the 'culprit'.

Interestingly, many hotels and restaurants have come up with signboards issuing warnings against smoking.

The sale of cigarettes seems to have been affected due to the ban. "From a daily sale of anywhere around Rs 500, it has now come down by half," says Raju, a petty shop owner near the busy Mavoor Road.

Many private organisations have also come forward to spread awareness on the dangers of smoking, striking a point that the ban will help check the numbers of new smokers.

"The situation in the state, where smoking in public places has been under police surveillance for a long time now, is quite different from other states where the governments might find it difficult to implement the ban," says Ambika, a bank employee.

"The public is clearly aware of the dangers they create to passive smokers and smoking has never been a major public nuisance here," she says.