meerut in the western part of uttar pradesh all the decisions are taken around hookah for village elders its sweet smoke provides the perfect binding platform and also the kick for fertile discussions from local panchayats to massive khap gatherings hookah had always been at the centrestage in the region for centuries now in hookah flavoured tobacco is mixed with jaggery and then smoked through a long pipe it sits quietly amid the babble of conversation whose fervour reaches crescendo as the evening matureswith the onset of elections discussions gather steam and so does the sale of hookahskairana being the border town of up just 4 kms away from haryana has over the decades honed the art of making hookahs whose sale witness spike during elections the main bazaar of the small town is dotted with various shops selling these smoking pipesgiving details ayub mansoori one of the traders says this region is the epicentre of khap culture and surrounding towns like muzaffarnagar baghpat kairana kaithal sonepat karnal are predominantly rural in nature be it religious ceremonies or village chaupals or panchayats hookah is an inseparable commodity and kairana holds the distinction of making quality productbeing part of unorganized sector no survey has ever been conducted to gauge the scale of business these hookah generate herethere are about 150 workers who specialize in making of these hookahs in kairana it is not easy to tell the consolidated amount of business but sale definite spikes during elections for instance in the last one month i have sold 100 hookahs as compared to 100 in the entire year adds mansoori while drawing from an old hookahexplaining what goes into the making of it suraaj ahmad a hookah maker says there is a whole lot of art involved in assembling the whole apparatus and it comes from years of experience my ancestors were also involved in hookah makinga farmer leader from shamli jitender hooda says in rural belt major decisions are taken around hookah when all elders sit in a circle and arrive at a conclusion during elections intensity and frequency of such discussions increase manifoldanother shopkeeper yunus mehmood said i learned making hookah from my grandfather when i was just eight i am 45 now i dont know any other vocation work is good and i get satisfaction in thisapart from western up haryana too is a big market for kairana hookahsameer hasan says hookah tradition is even more prevalent in haryana than in up and border being just a few kilometres away people come here in hordes to get onethe cost of a hookah ranges between rs 1000 to rs 8000 depending upon the size and amount of brass used in its manufacturingduring the election season most of the verandahs could be seen occupied by elderly people sitting on wooden cots with hookah at the centre the traditional smoking pipe is a symbol of village unity and is inseparable part of village politics