prohibition

Prohibition

It seems to be on everyone’s mind. Elections are around the corner. Kerala has introduced it and so has Bihar. All the political parties standing for election in Tamil Nadu have it as part of their manifesto!

Gujarat was the first state to enforce prohibition in 1949. This  was because it was the home of Mahatma Gandhi. It really did not do much to control   the availability of alcohol there. In the 60’s and 70’s my father often went there on official business. . All you needed was a permit form a medical practitioner saying that you were an alcoholic whose life was in danger without liquor! Most  of the hotels had a deal. Along with the check-in, you paid for a one month permit  and placed your order for your choice of liquor.  Liquor flowed in the official parties in which influential people socialized.

In 1969 Vellore was “dry,” with no rain and no alcohol. This did not prevent the medical students from enjoying their parties. Andhra Pradesh was “wet” with plenty of alcohol and the border was only 20-25 km from Vellore. There was a shack just that side of the border and the rustic bar did a thriving business. The  only problem was the check post. Sometimes they wanted a bribe, sometimes they just confiscated all the bottles. For medical students on a parental allowance this was not good news at all.

There was a network of smugglers-----.

“You need  to hold a red chili in your hand and walk around the bazaar. They will approach you—“ This was the sage advice of local boys. This was in stark contrast to winding a  jasmine chain around one wrist. That was the signal for wanting a call girl.

The weekend was approaching and everyone wanted to party.

“Let us pool our money and send two freshers to get the booze”.

The two young men wandered around the bazaar holding the red chilies. A disreputable tout soon approached them, in Tamil movie villain style with a pock marked face, with a cross-eyed squint, attired in a dirty lungi.

“Give me the money.”

“We can’t till we see the booze.”

“Come with me.”

He led them to the paddy fields surrounding the town. “It is in that hut,” he said pointing to a rundown structure.

The ground was wet and slushy. The two boys did not want to put their feet down.

“I will get it,” offered the tout.

They handed over the money and he disappeared into the recesses of the hut. After waiting for half an hour they started to panic.

“Quick take your sandals off. Let us go and see.”

By the time they reached, they could see the tout fleeing in the distant horizon, his lungi practically up to his waist. The hut was a façade, like a movie set.

They could not go back to the  “seniors”, with no money and no booze either.

That is when they met one of the local “mafia” a dada (godfather). He owned and ran a local bus service among other activities like a gym which was a cover for a gambling den. He gave them a bottle of whiskey, they were for ever grateful. More important they were loyal. This set up a long standing mutually beneficial friendship for generations of students. No one went to the Andhra border any more.

Prohibition was lifted a few years later. You could buy  liquor legally but only from government owned TASMAC shops. They were shady and the clientele drank outside the shop itself. There was a thriving business in scrambled eggs and fried chicken pieces outside the shops. Doctors, even the young ones, just could not go to the TASMAC shops. They felt they had to keep up “appearances”. Patients just might notice them there. The government also started selling pure alcohol (government arrack) in plastic sachets similar to milk packets. They were a big hit. It tasted vaguely like gin.

A few months later the Tamil Nadu and Andhra police conducted a joint raid in the wooded hilly area adjacent to the border. They found a whole factory  bottling arrack in IMFL (Indian Made Foreign Liquor). They had coloured the arrack with caramel, they had bottles and labels saying “Vat 69” and “Dimple scotch.”  Adulteration became a very real fear.

A couple of years ago the government opened the “Elite TASMAC” shops where you could buy vodka, beer brandy legally. It was the real thing! Now all that is going to be taken away from us again.

The “Intermedical” cultural and sports meets were held once a year. No one wanted to come to Vellore, but Pondicherry  (A Union territory taken over from the French) was a different kettle of fish, a favorite venue. There were beeches, free flowing booze (Pondicherry did not have prohibition)   and rumors of sexy French women. The students always tried to smuggle liquor back across the border into Tamil Nadu. The border police knew (I suspect the liquor shops informed them) so they sold the liquor, and then had it confiscated and returned to the shops for resale. The police made a tidy packet accepting tokens of cash for not arresting everybody. I suspect liquor shops did not have to renew their stock as frequently as their books showed.

The effects of the alcohol were far flung. The hockey team turned up on the field completely sozzled. They played brilliantly in the first half and actually scored three goals. During the second half they went completely to pieces. The forward finally shot a goal  in the second half, into the rival teams goal.

“What happened?” asked the coach.

“During  the  first half, we saw three balls so we hit the one in the middle. During the second half, we saw only two, so we didn’t know what to hit!”

After the elections, Tamil Nadu is going to experiment with prohibition again. I guess this means more across the border forays for students and others. VIT is strategically situated very close to the border----.