The booze trap
Kerala, a small state at the
southern tip of India, lean as it may be seen on the map is bountiful in nature
and overflowing with booze. Keralities have the dubious distinction of being frenzied
tipplers, social or regularly hard drinkers, so much so that districts in
Kerala compete with one another to break records and breast the tape ahead of
each other on the occasion of Onam.
However all this is going to
change, the Keralite will turn sober, the land will no more be flowing with
booze, rivers and streams will mingle with the glistening rays of the sun in
perfect harmony to send good wishes on the occasion of Onam. Keralities will be
the harbinger of change in the country, nay the world. It is only the astute
sacrosanct who can promise deliverance. But is that so? Can folks who were
tipsy till the evening before turn sober because the government proposes to pass
a law to ban bars in the state? Will they turn preachers because they are now shorn
off their inciting devil hood? Have the housewives celebrated too early? I am
reminded of the state of Gujarat; the land of the Mahatma where liquor has been
banned for decades, yet revellers never feel handicapped, it is available at
the place of your choosing. So is banning the answer? Can you rehabilitate a
child by withdrawing his toys, or is gentle nudging required? Do measures have
to be balanced? The answer will be known in due time.
Conflict has always revolved
around the question whether harsh measures aided in subjugation or were
measures laced with love that finally triumph, or was it a bit of both the
harsh and the coax. There are schools of thought who think that withdrawing the
object of desire would end the turmoil. Others think that withdrawing the object
would only aggravate desire and would end up doubling ones thirst. The third
school of thought has always advocated a fine blend of the two, making it
difficult to acquire and educating people about the ills while helping them to
tide over times of restlessness.
A packet of cigarette is dear to
a smoker irrespective of the price increase or addition of taxes and levies to
make acquisition costlier. Smokers will always find alternatives to drive their
desire for a satisfying pull. Consider the case of gambling, no amount of
enforcement by the law makers or enforcers can curtail the desire to play a
winning hand, on the contrary strict enforcement will add to the thrill of
dealing a hand by a deft manipulation of the law enforcers and the system. To
curtail the consumption of life threatening habits, it would be wise to gently coax
a regular and habitual offender into driving home the ill effects of his
actions and the wanton destruction that this can have on his loved ones and
society. Alternatively he has to be shown enough incentives to throw the habit
and there has to be enough reasons for him to kick them.
Under the circumstances it
remains to be seen how such a highhanded, heavy and forceful decision of the
government to impose a one sided decision of banning bars in the state will
dither the regular tippler and the tipsy hearted. Can taking away the object of
affection take away the drive and the yearning? Or will it pave the way for
making it available on the sly? It is
important to simultaneously plug away at reducing the availability, increase
the price, and educate the people on the ills effects of continuing with these
habits. What can be done with reason cannot be done by force.
The steps taken by the law makers
are commendable because to close the door on your biggest revenue collection
ticket is not an easy decision. It certainly needs guts and courage to come up
with such a forceful decision politically or even otherwise irrespective of the
compulsions, but it has to be interspaced with other measures on the ground
like educating the public on the ills and effects of continuing with their
losing ways, and public awareness drive to keep them rooted to the winning ones.
While there may be no more mixings with drinking, you certainly must mix up
measures to deliver the knock out punch.23rd August 2014
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