Dry days are to drinkers what forced dieting is to fat people and MBBS students are to dogs. The only difference is society doesn’t give a damn about what happens to people who like to drink every now and then (I personally prefer now). We’re always somehow seen as an immoral, violent, social menace, but really we’re just bros who want to have a good time and occasionally throw up on other people’s shoes. We’re no saints mind you, we’re just taking out the frustrations of working class monotony on our own bodies, would you rather we not drink and start asking about where our tax money is going?
While some states like Bihar and Gujarat have banned alcohol all together, Maharashtra still has a sort of love hate relationship with alcohol; and never is this relationship more strained than between 2nd and 9th October, which for lack of a better term I’m going to refer to as Gandhiweek. Gandhiweek is sort of like the 12 days of Christmas; they both celebrate the birth of a charismatic, non violent, brown person in a shawl who spoke against an evil empire of guys in funny hats who were killed by religious fanatics. But there’s one major difference, Gandhiweek is a dry week, which means no alcohol but at least it makes for some sweet cosplay.
What better a way to honour an advocate against tyranny than by temporarily banning something so many people hold dear? Obviously we’re not going to change anything, Gandhiweek’s been going on for years now and nobody’s really objected to the whole banning booze bit, but that’s alright, The Bombay Report does have some non violent solutions to wait out Gandhiweek without having to give up drinking; (What you do with this information is your own business)
1) Stocking Up: This point is a bit obvious, but not as easy as you think, for some reason people who drink a lot have terrible memories so it’s often halfway through Gandhiweek before we realise that we have another four days of dry left. Just remember this; Gandhiweek starts on 2nd October so make sure you hit the liquor store by the 1st. In case you need a bit more information about dry days here’s a list prepared by our friends at bootlegger.in.
2) Going to a Gymkhana: This point actually came as a bit of a surprise to me, apparently it’s legal for Gymkhanas to serve alcohol on dry days. If you’re a member of a Gymkhana, good for you, if you aren’t you really ought to make friends with someone who is. Gymkhanas give you cheap, usually excellent food and alcohol, not to mention the indescribable feeling of being part of the landed gentry.
3) Going to a Hotel: A bit like Gymkhanas; the laws of a country don’t usually apply to rich people. Sure it can work out to be a bit expensive, but what better way to stick it to the man than by paying him hundreds of rupees in service tax? It isn’t just five star hotels are that immune to dry days, three star hotels are too.
Dry week is bad news for all of us, but a wise man once said, “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.”
