No, You May Not Have A Drink

The carefree haze provided by substance abuse is a lure for teenagers as irresistible as free candy offered by strangers to an 8 year old. Both are dangerous, both are forbidden and that is what increases their lure to levels which often surpasses the satisfaction they provide.

All things forbidden automatically become a must-have to any human being. It is basic human nature, even Adam & Eve couldn’t resist eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Teenage years are a time of change for all, with major personality development taking place at this stage. One of the most important and overpowering desires at this point of time is to ‘grow up’. Teenagers cannot wait to grow into adults who are taken seriously by society, to earn their own livelihoods, to live on their own terms and to entertain themselves as they please.

Alcohol consumption is an extremely wide-spread phenomenon in the country, with children growing up to the sight of their parents and other relatives drinking. In the mad dash to grow up, it is only natural for kids to try and ape everything that grown-ups do. Alcohol consumption is no exception to this rule.

The legal drinking age limit in Delhi is 25 years. That’s right, one is considered an adult here at 18, can smoke at 18, give consent to sex at 18, marry at 18 or 21 (females & males respectively), bear a child at 18. But no, one cannot have a drink till the ripe old age of 25. “One isn’t responsible enough to drink till the age of 25”, says the government. We are governed by a set of laws which consider bearing and raising a child a chore involving lesser responsibility than having a drink. If ever there was a restrictive, regressive and intrusive law, this is it. Youngsters, by their very nature, never wish to be told what they can or more importantly, cannot do. It is the sole reason for this law to be one of the most flouted ones in the city. Proof of this is painfully apparent outside each and every liquor shop in the city, with youngsters lining up each day to have their fill of hooch.

One would imagine the law would deter the sale of liquor to people under the age of 25, but this is not so. It is easier for a teenager to buy alcohol than to get an auto to go to home after 9pm. Neither does it stop restaurants and bars all over the city from appeasing the thirst of underage patrons. Almost all places with a liquor license in the city pour liquor to teenagers; often right under a shiny gold plaque announcing “Alcohol will not be served to guests under the age of 25”.

There are a lot of reasons youngsters in Delhi start drinking. While some claim they took to drinking as an escape from academic pressure or to cope with emotional problems or even family issues, the real biggest reason remains, as it always has been, peer pressure. Most teens have their first drink with their seniors at parties, just to try it. What begins as a harmless sip soon blooms into a couple drinks at social gatherings, to stealing alcohol from parents or other relatives to outings with friends dedicated to drinking. It starts for a fair number of teenagers in high school, with almost everybody becoming drinkers by the time they graduate from college. The stigma related to drinking lends it an irresistible status. The patronage alcohol enjoys among elder relatives leads teenagers to relate alcohol consumption to being an independent adult.

Teenagers in India today, lead a suppressed lifestyle, living under the pressure of being a generation growing up at a time the society as a whole is undergoing a radical change. Westernization is rampant in the Indian society, and India as a society is confused within, struggling to balance out the ethics and culture of an age old civilization with new age global ideas of socio-economic independence and self-realization. India’s youngsters today can, in a way, be compared to the flower-power American generation of the 70s. With each new generation comes a shift in thinking and an accompanying generation gap. Unfortunately, the current generation transformation is taking place under the stifling shadow of archaic laws laid out decades ago by leaders who believed in prohibition.

Alcohol consumption is not an issue that can be tackled by setting an irrational drinking age limit like 25. Youngsters anywhere, especially in Delhi, with their “we can and will do anything we want” attitude will always find a way to buy alcohol, irrespective of laws. The need of the hour is to revise the law and set an age which is more in tune with the pace of the changing world, acceptance of the rise of alcohol use, removal of stigma and proper education. Parents, teachers and society in general needs to wake up from its slumber and needs to take notice of the elephant in the room. The taboo associated with alcohol in most Indian households needs to go and replaced with an open forum where teenagers can freely discuss such things with their parents.

This is the only way to tackle the ‘problem’ of increasing alcohol abuse among youngsters, especially in a city where government approved liquor shops fearlessly sell alcohol to minors, protected as they are against raids by corrupt cops.

Only In Delhi.

Just Another Day In Delhi

Of the hundreds visual stimuli presented by the roads of Delhi on my drive today, 3 remain stuck in my memory. Let me present them in the order of their presenting themselves to me.

Waiting at a traffic intersection, I noticed, most unsurprisingly, a few beggars conducting brisk business. I also spotted the slum perched on the rocky outcrop several metres high right next to the intersection. The Vasant Vihar Coolie Camp, as the slum is called, is spread over more than an acre of government land and has burgeoned from just a couple of houses to a slum sprawling into the woods behind in just a couple of decades.

Driving further, I had to make way for a group of motorcyclists, proudly astride their Harley Davidsons, showing off the gleaming chrome and flawless leather riding gear and instilling a deep sense of longing in other poorer commuters with the deep throaty roar of their engines.

Just when I thought I had seen enough display of opulent wealth, I was overtaken by a Rolls Royce Phantom, The Spirit of Ecstasy riding proudly on the hood, as a symbol of excellence and indicative of obscene wealth.

If you are to spot both of the last two of the three sights mentioned above on a single day, you can be quite certain that it is a Sunday. For Sunday is the day the bourgeoisie of Delhi come out in strength and bring out their most expensive wheels to enjoy them on the comparatively empty streets.

If you are wondering why I would shed light on this along with a mention of the slums, let me tell you that my intention was to share with you two opposing aspects of Delhi in terms of money. On one hand we have the uber rich citizens, indulging in sinful pleasure to a degree which would be considered almost criminal by some. On the other hand, however, we have citizens who live under the poverty line, a large percentage of whom are food insecure. People of both fiscal classes are as intrinsic a part of Delhi as the other and this city’s identity would be incomplete without either.

I met with an elderly gentleman a few days ago, a resident of Bangalore. He shared his observations of the large number of homeless people on the streets of Delhi and expressed his deep sense of discontent over their pitiful condition and his frustration towards the government for not doing anything to uplift these people. He also lamented that the extremely rich people of Delhi do nothing to help the homeless and continue to live their pampered lives absolutely guilt free. I sympathize with his feelings, but I would like to take the opportunity to highlight here the opinions of the average Delhiite. It is said that even God doesn’t help those who don’t help themselves. Although not much of a believer of God myself, I do believe this adage applies fully and truly here. Unknown to the gentleman from Bangalore, I can vouch for the fact that a vast majority of the homeless people of Delhi have resolved themselves to a life of poverty and are quite content with their lot in life. A lot of attempts are made to help and uplift them but are mostly futile. Alms distributed are spent buying hooch more often than food for the family, able bodied men give up any chance of finding employment in favour of a more sedentary and lazy lifestyle of begging at traffic signals. Attempts to relocate The Vasant Vihar Coolie Camp have met with stiff resistance from the slum dwellers, not entirely unexpectedly. Nobody wishes to uproot themselves and relocate once settled. As long as attempts to help the destitute continue to face resistance, whether from politicians, the opposition or the poverty stricken people themselves, there can be no hope for improvement.Delhi has always been and will probably continue to be a city where the poor and rich live in extremely close and oftentimes unsettling proximity.

Only In Delhi.