Alcoholics (stay) Anonymous

If ever there was a time for someone to kick the drinking habit, its now! Look in any direction, look at the TV, rummage through the newspapers – look anywhere. Sure, alcohol is bad for you - agreed. But, for those of us who like the occasional drink on a night out with friends, things have never looked worse. The moral police is out in numbers, they’re everywhere you go, and they’re armed and dangerous! A few instances have brought me to believe that we live in a state where prohibition doesn’t exist by law, but is being forced down our throats in more ways than one.

First it was the incident involving students of a Symbiosis management institute in the city sometime last year. ‘Rave party busted by Pune Cops’ read the headlines. A whole batch of aspiring management students put behind bars…and for what? For attending their college freshers’ party? For having a good time with their classmates? For downing a couple of beers? Yes, there was booze for which the students / organizing committee hadn’t got the proper licenses for. But did that really need the entire batch of students to be hauled into jail? I only hope this wasn’t something that went into their permanent records – am not sure of how these things work!

Then there was the recent incident in Kothrud in which a local Pune actress was involved. I was glancing through the Pune Mirror on a Sunday morning and noticed that I knew a couple of people in that group. Come to office the next day and I’m told by my Maharashtrian colleagues that they have the inside scoop on what really went down that night. Turns out the Marathi dailies had concocted their own version of the story that looked like something straight out of a B grade Hindi movie involving nudity, molestation – the works! Now, I am positive about one thing: what is considered as ‘party-wear’ for a Pune Times Page 3 journalist might qualify as ‘nudity’ for the Pudhari (a local Marathi newspaper) journalist! But Pudhari’s account of the incident was, at best, laughable. Spare a thought though for the people who went through the ordeal!

The other day I read about how the prices of alcohol will shoot up thanks to additional service tax being levied by the government. What that effectively means is that for the same pint of beer, we’ll be paying 10-15% extra. As if we weren’t spending enough on the booze bills already, imagine your bills now! Plus with the entry charges that even the remotely decent clubs around Pune hit you with, you’d think that one would be better off just drinking at home, wouldn’t you? Think again! Here’s what is most likely to happen:

Scenario 1: You invite over a group of friends to your house --- have a couple of drinks…play some music --- some finicky neighbour doesn’t like your taste in music --- clock strikes 11 --- neighbour calls cops --- cops don’t like your attitude --- cops shove you and your friends into the back of their van --- you land up in jail.

Scenario 2: You invite over a group of friends to your house --- have a couple of drinks…play some music --- some finicky neighbour wants to sleep --- clock strikes 11 --- neighbour calls cops --- cops don’t like your attitude --- cops shove you and your friends into the back of their van --- you land up in jail.

Scenario 3: You invite over a group of friends to your house --- have a couple of drinks…play some music --- finicky neighbour doesn’t like your attitude --- clock strikes 11 --- neighbour calls cops --- cops don’t like your taste in music --- cops shove you and your friends into the back of their van --- you land up in jail.

So, where does one go to partyyyyyy! Goa??? Frankly, I think Goa has enough to worry about already, let’s not add to its woes! It would be great if someone can give me a low-down on the rules that apply when it comes to drinking at home ‘cos at this point in time, to me it seems that drinking is absolutely fine, but being drunk is a crime!