It is now a year now since I
moved to the City Beautiful – Chandigarh .
The well-laid out streets, the Shivaliks in the background and relatively free
of traffic congestion and accompanying pollution, the city has myriad charms.
Parks of all shapes, sizes and theme, plenty of open space, free from the
onslaught of concrete which has become a hallmark of metros like Delhi
are the other features, clearly visible to a rank outsider.
But what amazes me here is the helping
hand extended by the government to those who love their drink. The lovers of
Bacchus had never had it so good in any big city of the country. You can easily
find a liquor shop every 100 meters in the City Beautiful. If you are dying of
thirst in the humid and sultry conditions and want to desperately buy bottled
water, you will have to traverse quite a length to find a shop and you will be
lucky to get a brand of your choice.
But the guzzlers of Beer are
spoilt for choice and availability. You simply walk into a neighbourhood liquor
shop, get your brand and sit it in the tavern to chill out. Over two centuries
ago, a French Queen told her subjects that if bread is not available then eat
cake. Here, in Chandigarh , people
say if water is not available, drink Beer.
In any case, bottled water is largely available only at the railway
station and the inter-state bus terminals.
Having travelled to a lot of
places in the country and also to a few places which are considered a paradise
for drinkers, I did not find any other place, except Nepal
and to some extent Goa , which can claim to be “booze
friendly”.
Selling and consuming liquor is a
lucrative industry in Chandigarh . Even
the shops selling liquor and their neighboring shops have become innovative,
something rarely seen in other places. For the first time, I found a shop,
specializing in selling “drinking accessories”. This was located next to a busy
shop selling all sorts of whisky, Beer, Wine, Vodka, Rum, Brandy and what not.
Curiosity got better of me and I
examined the shop selling “drinking accessories”. The shop had a list of all
the “accessories” used for drinking – soda, ice cubes, plastic glasses,
peanuts, mixtures, cold drinks of all variety, bottled water, even cigarette for
those who smoke while drinking. The shop next to it was selling another
drinking accessory, widely used in this part of the country – Tandoori Kukkad
(chicken) and all its variants like Afghani chicken and the Tikkas if one was mindful
of the bones while gulping liquor.
As I stood there for a while, I
found booze lovers of all shapes and sizes thronging the liquor shop and also
the one selling “drinking accessories”. There was a good business for everyone
associated with drinks. The guy selling ready-made clothes and the one selling
stationary, were only watching with envy the business generated by their
neighbor.
The patronizing hand of the government
is there, everywhere. In the City Beautiful, liquor was perhaps the cheapest in
the entire country before May this year when the Excise rates were revised. It used
to be 25 to 40 per cent cheaper (depending on the brand) than Delhi .
Though the rates have increased now, but those who swear by the bottle insist
that it is still cheaper than Delhi .
But before liquor became
expensive from May 1, the booze lovers of the city shopped for liquor to their
heart’s content in April. As the excise year was coming to a close, liquor was
put on sale with the price tag down by 25-40 per cent. Some denizens stocked
their quota for the next six months. Never before had I seen the sign of “Sale
Dhamaka” put up on liquor shops. I had only seen that sign on shops selling
apparel, shoes etc in off-season.
Coming on to the facilitating
role of the Chandigarh Administration, here I found that the authorities do not
allow any commercial activity in non-notified areas. But the rule is not
applicable for the booze shops. It can be set-up anywhere in the city.
Temporary structures, selling liquor have sprung up all across the city, particularly
on the outskirts and the southern sectors. They are perched at the corners of
the roads with a Tavern and attract cars and bikes of all make in the rush
evening hours.
To facilitate such shops and
increase their business, “Taverns” have opened. Again, they sell all “drinking
accessories” right from glasses, water, soda to Tandoori Kukkad. All you have
to do is buy your brand from the shop, flash the bottle in the Tavern and order
all the dishes available in the air-conditioned make-shift “Taverns”. One can
sit as long as one wants if one has ordered anything from the menu. Even
drunken brawls are allowed here, provided it does not warrant the presence of
the police and has not turned too violent.
The Taverns here have their own
rules which need to be followed, even by the drunkards. The food menu of these
Taverns specifies these rules. If you puke after consuming an extra peg, you
are allowed to do so in the taverns. But the charges are Rs 50. But you don’t
have to clean it yourself the tavern employee would do it for you. Again, if
you break a glass in which you are drinking, you pay Rs 20. There is another
rule. If you do not want to order for any eatable and only want to drink, the
hiring charge for a glass would be Rs 10. And mind you, water is not provided
here free of cost and you have to purchase a bottled water to mix it with the
drink.
In one of the taverns, the rule
was to place an order for a minimum of Rs 400 from the kitchen, to sit in the
AC hall. If you place an order of a lesser amount, then you will have to do
with the non-AC hall. But the irony was that none of those drinking merrily
actually realised after a couple of pegs whether they were sitting in an AC or
a non AC hall.
What has come as a dampener which
is otherwise a paradise for the lovers of “the daughter of grapes” is the drive
against drunken driving, launched by the Chandigarh Police. During the drive in
the late evenings, the traffic cops on
duty simply ask you to roll down the windows of the car and ask some innocent
questions. The idea is to smell liquor. The moment you open your mouth after a
drinking session at a Tavern or a Bar, you are out to a test and asked to pay a
fine. The drunkards simply can’t believe that driving after drinking is an
offence. Reeking of liquor and driving late night on the city streets, these
“gentlemen” and “Gentlewomen” were shocked when the police impounded their
license and told them to call home and get a sober person to drive them home.
“I get sober and become normal only after three pegs,” one of them told the
police. (Sunday, May 13, 2012)
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