Wetness In Dry Land

Robert Lanky *

How odd it is. I think with a mixture of fear and loathing as the plane circles above Dimapur, a shining spittle of rain, like a globe of mercury, clinging to the window on my left. How odd it is. I think, to be not able to go to a bar on the first evening of my visit to a new city and get a sense of the place. These are some thoughts of one of my friends who had come with me on his maiden visit to Nagaland. In the frustration he asked me! Don't people go to bars in Dimapur, and Kohima? I said they don't as there aren't any.

My friend says: For some one like me, it is difficult to come to terms with this. What's dry ? How dry is dry? That's why I am here. To see what it is like to be a drinker in a dry land; to carryout my own experiments with truth. He further adds that, it is also an experiment of sorts of making minor adjustments to his instinctive responses to things. "Let's meet for a drink" or "what will you have for a drink?" are phrases, I have to learn of not using them.

After having a lot of discussion on prohibition laws in various other states and in North Eastern States like Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram, we thought to check the reality in the back drop of tragedy in Ahmedabad where (total prohibition exists on paper) 137 people lost their lives due to spurious liquor. It was indeed an appropriate time for such an experiment.. Good enough - the state Govt does not allow alcohol to be sold or served legally but can that prevent people from drinking if they want to or if we want to?

What should we do, if we want to have a drink? Like a participant in a big - money quiz show, 'we phoned a friend'. The friend tells us that stealth bars are available, if you go to them and you will be welcomed . That brought us a self satisfied smirk on our faces.

The friend also offered us another option, an unique way of having pleasure of drinking but while driving. He said, most of the youngsters here drink inside their cars. Buy a can of cola, take a swig, mix in the rum, vodka in Sprite or Mountain Dew and pass it around between friends. Even the soft drink sellers know. So, they will have Colas ready at the counter at a certain time of the day for some, sodas for others. Drive around for an hour or so towards Khat Khati or from Khat Khati to Kohima or Dimapur and you are done. This is ' Mobile drinking" he said!

" That's disgusting", we roared in unison " Where's the pleasure in drinking like that?". But my good friend also offered another option i.e "Static" drinking. He informed us that after 8.30 PM in the heart of Dimapur (our first destination), there are three to four good restaurants just under the (know) nose of civil administration, police officials, and UGs ('Under Government' Protectorate or 'Under Ground' Protectorates) who can look after your requirements; branded or unbranded booze with full hospitality. And true to what my friend told us these are the most happening places in the commercial capital. Although these places have been raided in the past but the handlers (Managers) of these restaurants are so confident that they assure you with problem free company of good chicks and booze, as late as till 2 AM in the morning.

My friend and I decided without any loss of time to visit one such unauthorized (protected) static bars. When we reached there, we were greeted smilingly. Crowd around but not bothered. Few of them, we saw, probably not being satisfied with the brew, (spurious, branded and unbranded liquor) were going towards the wash rooms with their partners probably to have a doze of white powder.

Inquisitiveness overwhelmed my partner, who meandered his way to the wash rooms which remained locked from inside for almost 20 min till his turn came. The previous occupants while leaving the wash room greeted him " HAVE FUN". This was the happening place!!. The names of such happening restaurants are being withheld, much against our conscience, as we had promised our local Naga friend not to reveal them. We left after having our own quota with the thrill of knowing one of the secrets of dry land.

Till very late at night we kept discussing the problems of government, people and the state. We were appalled to learn that Nagaland is the "third" highest state in the list of 'HIV' positive cases after Maharashtra and next to Manipur (Total - 1400 women only affected with HIV positive). Also it ranked second or third highest in drug abuse.

From the local newspaper we learnt that - 74% of the population above 15 yrs of age in Manipur and Nagaland drink alcohol and as many as 10 crores bottles of liquor or more were consumed in just one year in these two states!!. Not surprisingly, 24.45% of total HIV patients in these states are due to injecting of drugs and they constitute 1.92 - 1.97% of the total population. Some facts which we learnt are interesting and revealing.

* Prohibition in Nagaland - More than a decade.
* Loss of Revenue by the state - More than 1000 crores.
* Business By Bootlegger -from neighboring state more than 1000 crores.
* Business of Illicit Liquor - More than 100 crores.
* Sources of Procurement - Local brew, IMFL either through Assam border or from Para Military Forces.

Next morning we started for our next destination-Imphal; another 'dry land' capital city. After having travelled on the treacherous road NH-39 (bones breaking journey) to Imphal we decided to put up in one of the popular hotel of the city and asked for a refreshing drink!! And lo! the waiter imploded 'No problem, Sir. What brand would you like? Qtr or half? (meaning 300ML or 500 ML) in his broken 'Hinglish' and offered us our brand.

Next day we ventured in Manipur University to know the if the youths or student community are addicted to alcohol and drugs. It wasn't surprising. It was similar to the Nagaland, except, that the contact numbers of various Bootleggers and Drug Peddlers were readily available. Some student even mentioned that you don't require marketing skill for this business.

If you have the stuff, the customers will come by themselves; only the local police will have to be bribed. He narrated the modus operandi of smuggling liquor in quite a detail. The trucks loaded with crates of liquor hidden with other commodities come close to the state border and taken to an undisclosed place from where the bottles would be unloaded and distributed.

He said about twenty guys like him would pick up 20 odd- crates and load them in their cars. The distributor pays Rs 3000 per crate to his counterpart across the border and sells it for Rs 3300 per crate and make a profit of Rs 300 per crate. The delivery of the consignment would be minimum 20-25 times a month which amounts to approximately a whopping amount of Rs 30 lakhs a month.

And of course, he would have to pay to the police and excise a share of his booty. Should he get caught with the truck he would have to shell out Rs 50,000 to a lakh to get out. In our experiment with truth - 'wetness in dry land' and prognosis of the malaise affecting the two states, our worry was the overuse of drugs as an alternative to consumption of alcohol, despite the govts claim of a decrease in drug cases to 27% of the population. We also learnt the shocking state and stories about drug addicts and the miseries of their families.

We came to a self concluded judgment that , " If the govt removes the stringent but ineffective prohibition laws from these states the official revenue collection will go up and correspondingly there will be fewer drug addicts and related HIV cases; bootleggers and liquor smugglers will lose their business. But in the long run avoidable tragedy that happened in Gandhi's land - Ahmedabad may not recur and many a lives could be saved".

The philanthropic idea was soon mesmerized by the sound of ice cubes chiming into a tall glasses of Vodka, Rum Whisky and what not. This reminded us that it was time for out quota of drink in 'Dry Land'. There seems to be no difference to say 'Cheers' either in these two states or elsewhere. We heaved a sigh of relief after downing our evening quota and wishing the states all the very best. In all fairness, we left it to the people and the govt to ponder about the ineffective prohibition laws and measures to reduce consumption of liquor by 74% of the population (above 15 yrs) as also and many of those who have become drug addicts and HIV cases.