Founder of Kaniyam Foundation, Tanwar, managed to quit smoking in three weeks, after coming across an article that pointed out the seriousness of the habit. It has now been six years since he has smoked. 3 meetings at a Quit Tobacco support group in Adyar Cancer Institute were enough for him to give up the ten-year-old habit in three weeks.

He reports distracting himself when he has an urge to smoke. Reading helps him in this regard. Tanwar who runs a free Tamil e-book forum has written his own book about how to quit smoking along with counsellor Karthik Lakshman.

Currently, more than 1 million die every year due to tobacco in India. The cause of death is commonly through cardiovascular disease. 9.5% of all deaths are due to the addictive subtstance.