Drinkers in a tizzy in Saturday night fever

Bettiah: With the mercury soaring north on Saturday, the second day into prohibition, tipplers with throats parched went ecstatic at their eagerly-awaited ‘khul jaa sim sim’ moment when the shutters of the first state-run liquor vend opened at the Station Chowk here.
This almost-ritual method in the madness, attributed in Greek mythology to Dionysus — God of the grape harvest and wine — better known in his Roman avatar as Bacchus, however turned into an almost hallucinatory mirage.The new liquor vend shut down almost as suddenly as it had opened just minutes ago.
Bemused bystanders guffawed at the spectacle, with one reminiscing about the ‘religious fervour’ seen in the holy month of Sawan. “Bujhaa taa Areraj ke Baba ke jal chadabe he hod laagal baa (seems as if there is scramble to offer water to the Baba at Areraj)…..khaali Bhole Nath ke naam le kar bol bam ke naara naikhey laagat (Only the cries of Bol Bam in the name of Bhole Nath is missing)!”
For the multitude that descended upon the liquor shop within moments, frenzy was the mood-Dominus. Taken aback with the deluge, shop attendants downed the shutters to a collective sigh from crowd. Excise superintendent Rakesh Kumar explained the scenario laughingly: “Naya staff hai … dheerey dheerey smooth ho jayegaa.”
Kumar said he has so far issued permits for two liquor vends, with another four in the pipeline. Altogether 20 shops will open in West Champaran, including 11 in Bettiah, five in Bagaha and three in Narkatiaganj, after granting of licences and ‘bandobasti (settlement)’ by the excise department. “After getting permits, the shops will open as soon as the Bihar State Beverage Corporation is able to,” the excise superintendent said, referring to the new policy whereby the state-owned Beverage Corporation will run the liquor vends where IMFL, foreign spirits and beer will be sold across the counter.
Singheswar Choudhary, depot manager of the State Beverage Corporation, confirmed that two liquor shops should be operational by Saturday evening. “We have just received the new rate card,” he said. Interestingly, while downing shutters at the Station Chowk vend earlier in the forenoon, shop attendants too had taken the plea of the unavailability of the rate list effective this fiscal year as also the need to get receipt books. It may be mentioned that a receipt on the sale and purchase of alcohol has been made mandatory. “The receipts shall have to be obtained privately from stationery shops,” the depot manager said.
The liquor vend finally opened shop for business late Saturday evening. The scene: Akin to the Friday Box Office openings of Bollywood blockbusters!