In case, just in case the powers that be have
access to the internet, I hope they see the real picture behind the thick wall of
idealism they hide and venture forth to speed up a decision......
Liquor has
been a part of Malayalees life and celebrations for a very very long time. We
celebrate with high spirit, we share our sadness with a tinkling glass and we
chase away boredom when along with our buddies, we cheer away the evils of
mundane.
A watering
hole is not a place of pouring a drink, gulping it down in haste and tottering
away to fall somewhere on the road and sleep off amid one's own vomit - No sir
no. It is a depiction of hell for most of us Malayalees. What we want is to sit
in a room where the aroma of Double fried beef tickles our nostrils, the
tinkling of ice cubes and the noisy effervescence of soda being poured into
glasses adding to the nostalgia evoking beats of an old malayalam movie song, Friendly banter around the table built camaraderie and business deals
aplenty.
Now take a
look at the current scenario, 418 out of a total of 708 bars in Kerala were closed down over a
month back stating poor hygiene. The decision was to keep only those with three
stars and above opened to serve liquor. WHAT ? What about the general populace
who cannot afford to go to a bar and have a drink? What about the 70 odd bars which were given two star certification by the government after paying huge amounts ?
Mary Antoinette
would smirk and say “I told you so”, as our leaders proclaim – Go to BEVCO, the
government run (Monopolized) retail liquor outlets and buy your tipple. These
retail outlets occupy obscure places in God’s own country where the sun doesn’t
shine, in ramshackle setups which puts to shame the addas of goondas we see in
C grade movies. One has to stand in a long line – hours sometimes jostling the
different strata of society and being one among the many, a truly communist experience
mind you. Till the opportunist in the crowd cuts the line and begs the person
in the front of the line to buy a bottle for him too as the matter is most
urgent. Then there are the aggressors – usually six and a half foot and above
with a girth that would put an elephant to shame, who cut the line and stand
before you. If you dare to squeak, the answer will be a stare. I never went
beyond the squeak. This is what the average Malayalee has to go through to get
his hands on a bottle. You fight these elements and the never ending queue,
finish watching a full length movie on your Smartphone while awaiting your turn
and when your turn comes, you are greeted with Sorry, that is not available or
worse – It is 9 PM and its gates closing time. Suppose you get your hands on a
bottle at this hour, And then what Sir? Then what? Should we go hide behind
bushes, filthy toilets and in the dark shades of in between alleys to have what
we paid good money for? Good money this is too for the exchequer as the last
five years sales figures was a humongous 26,887 CRORES !!!! (Statistics courtesy TOI)
Who says
we do not want to unwind after a week of labor? The church? They serve wine to
little children inside the church for heaven’s sake !!! The politicians? they
have umpteen bars of their own !! Let me not go into the details of minister owned
third rate bars opened up and serving liquor when two star bar hotels and in
some cases three star bar hotels are closed down – all in the name of law.
Do you
really think you will ever come back to power if you keep dragging your legs
like this? Why would I vote you back to power if a decision takes you all more
than a month to execute? If your party is split to one man and the rest of the
party and the dictums of this one person is holding back a decision that
affects an entire state, tens of thousands of jobs, crores in revenue and cause
general anguish to the common man as stated above, Sir, what good are you and
the party?
Signing off, as I have to go and stand in a queue
for the next two hours.
