Perils of prohibition

The greatest assets of the Parsis along the Gujarat and Maharashtra coastline were the lands they owned which were full of date palms (khajura trees) from which they obtained toddy. The fresh juice extracted in the morning was neero, which was sweet and had wonderful digestive (laxative) properties. As the day grew warmer, the neero fermented, becoming sour and intoxicating, and became toddy.

Toddy was a nutritious drink, a sort of tonic for the poor and the Adivasis. Toddy provided nutrition for the body, gave a boost to the nervous system and did not damage the internal organs.

The Adivasis, having worked in Parsi owned fields during the day, would go to the owner’s bungalow in the evening to collect their daily wages. The Parsi landlords paid the Adivasis in cash and also gave them some rice and a glass of toddy which helped to drive away fatigue after the day’s labor. Those who wanted an additional glass of toddy had to pay a very nominal amount for it. The Adivasis never starved and the Parsis prospered.

Liquor or daru was something unheard of in the villages of those days. English liquor was consumed only by Europeans and very rich Indians in the cities.

Prohibition had many nasty side effects. Many Parsi agriculturists and farmers became impoverished. Beause toddy production stopped, illegal production of liquor (hooch or bevda) began. The bootleggers became richer as former toddy drinkers took to drinking illicit liquor. This hooch became more potent because of adulteration with the addition of acid from battery cells, boot polish and harmful chemicals like ammonium nitrate. Sometimes such hooch blinded entire villages and even killed people en masse.

Many years after Independence, the government of Maharashtra revoked prohibition and even began to produce its own safe daru. This signaled the end of the road for bootleggers and gangsters. Many breweries came up, providing employment for people. Government earned revenue on the manufacture and the sale of liquor, and people got something safe to drink.

However, since people had now tasted daru, nobody wanted toddy any longer.

If you bring in prohibition, you encourage bootleggers. If you stop something minor using the force of law, something worse crops up in its place.

Since the past few weeks the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) has declared a ban on Ervads Framroze Mirza and Khushroo Madon because they perform funeral ceremonies for those who opt for alternative methods of disposal. These priests have openly said that they are not bothered as they do not derive their income from our agiaries or Doongerwadi. However, there are some people who will take up their cause and use them as a facade for fighting their own battles.

This controversy is not going to solve any problems but will only result in legal wrangles. Who will lose? The whole community! We will become a laughing stock in the eyes of the world.

RUSTOM A. HAVEWALLA

raslu@hathway.com