ULTAPULTA
Glass struggle
Jaspal Bhatti

I met a young villager who was very agitated about the policies of the state government. His grudge was that the government was discriminating against villages.

"Aren’t you getting sufficient electricity or water?" I asked him. "No" he said. "When the government has allowed the selling of beer, wine, champagne and other liquor in department stores in Chandigarh, why don’t they legalise the selling of opium and bhang pakoras in kiryana stores and tea stalls in villages too?"

I tried to tell him that opium is prohibited and its intake is ruining the youth in villages. To this he replied that the government was biased in giving respect to one particular item only. "If we are taking opium at a dingy place and the police catches us, we are considered anti-social elements. If the government allows that to be sold at a posh resort, then we would be considered law-abiding citizens contributing to the revenue of the government."

I remember the days when having liquor openly even in our houses was considered improper. Men would lay tables in a secluded corner of the house and every time Patiala pegs were hurriedly poured into steel glasses, the bottle was placed under the table surreptitiously. Women of the house would enter the room with a plate of salad or peeled onions with a dupatta covering her nose saying, "Jaldi karo, roti tayyar hai."

But now we will probably see women purchasing liquor respectfully from department stores. The day is not far off when your milkman will also be allowed to sell liquor, along with milk. The milkman will ask, "How much milk and how much liquor, behenji". Then the lady of the house will say, "Doodh rehene de, kal ka abhi bhi bacha hai, do litre beer hi dal de."

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