Being in High Spirits....

“Arey moshai… how much longer will it take”, was the shout as people in Bengal lined out in front of the liquor store. The same shout would be heard in different languages throughout the different parts of India. But all in vain. We are stocked out responded the man from the other end of the tiller. Dhat… and the entire serpentine line dispersed in seconds.  

I was just indulging myself to a cup of ‘khurir cha’ (tea served in earthen pots) when I heard the most saddening dialogue by the desperate buyer, “Ektu whishkey na hole, kosha mangsho te moja kothaye?” (Where is the fun in enjoying the Mutton Kosha, without a drop of whisky). Bengalis have always had a troubled relationship with alcohol. 

In traditional Bengal and Eastern India, Brahmins and aristocrats were habituated to consume imported and country liquor. Hindu rulers in the mid-18^th century indulged in being in high spirits during special occasions. 

In other parts of India, Bengal was known as a region where addiction to liquor was widespread. The average drinking Bengali would walk for miles with a sling bag (jhola), collect his bottle of Farini 50 UP Bangla (a drink made from fermented rice) or Old Monk Rum, carry it back home like his child and consume it with a devotion which is hard to find in the most religious of people.

With the urbanization of Bengal, the well to do ‘babus’ resorted to derision (society of upstart aristocracy) which involved drinking day and night. Wine emerged as the new friend amidst the glittering parties and instantly became a symbol of a luxurious lifestyle. Times have changed today. One can find a liquor shop with a radius of a kilometer. You need not have to call up your ‘tipper man’ or line up at the bootleg vend. Instead one could just order it from different apps. Even the average Bengali has moved on from Bangla to Bacardi.

As the country has tightened its noose over the sale of liquor during the lockdown, people have been ‘spirit hunting’ in the chance to grab a bottle, even if it means Bangla or an Old Monk Rum. Recently, the people of Bengal were in high spirits as soon as they read a post on Twitter which mentioned that the Govt of West Bengal had allowed the sale and home delivery of liquor for a limited time period, only to know later that the news was wrongly misprinted and it meant that sale of sweets would be permitted as it was declared as an ‘essential product’ for Bengalis!

While this hooch is being sold illicitly in the black market at a sky-rocket price, the high spirited Bangali is still happy to shed out a few extra shillings only if he is lucky enough to sniff out the poison and sink deep into its essence. But till then the quintessential Bangali is relishing the Mutton Kosha with ginger strips dipped in salt, poetry, good friends, heated political debates with a subtle tune of Rabindra Sangeet playing at the crossroads in the background.