All Stories: World Tobacco Day

Photography and Videography by Pyar Ali Ahmad Shah’s hands move with quickness, certainty and precision as he goes about making a beetle nut or as many call it paan in the local language. From two pots filled to the brim with flavoured liquid, he spoons a generous helping and applies it to the betel leaf, before throwing in a mix of small, crushed sweets and nuts. Before proceeding to wrap the delicacy of sorts into a tiny newspaper cutting and handing it out to an eagerly awaiting hand, he sprinkles a pinch of tobacco into the paan and exchanges it for cash. Several customers line up at his small cabin in hopes of availing paan or another form of smokeless tobacco, gutka.