'If my gen is lost to alcohol, so be it, but the next gen must not be'

Earlier this year, Rajat liquor bar near Ulwe node in Navi Mumbai became an unusual hub of activity. Hundreds of men, women and children across the four neighbouring villages – Wahal, Morawe, Bamandongri and Jawale – gathered outside here every evening to sing bhajans in protest of the sale of liquor. Their behaviour wasn’t grounded by high-handed moralism so much as the devastating realities of alcoholism that has long plagued the men of these villages.
According to the former Wahal gram panchayat sarpanch, Ravi Patil, a staggering 50% of all widowers in these villages lost their husbands to alcohol abuse. “When you think about it, you can’t control the other causes of death, but this damage is self-made,” he said. And tales of the damage were fast on the lips of most women there, who invariably have had to bear its brunt. Fifty-seven year old Bheema Shanker Vaghmare, the panchayat’s current and first Adivasi sarpanch is just one such example whose husband died from two decades of drink. They worked as labourers together, and when he’d spill all his money on booze, it fell on her to sponsor his addiction, with refusal being met by blows.
When he passed, the responsibility of their three children fell squarely on her small frame, and she worked doubly hard to educate and nurture them. “If my generation is lost to alcohol, so be it. But we have to ensure the next generation is good,” she said staunchly. In an effort to help these women raise a family on their own, this panchayat is one of the first to offer all widowers 10,000 rupees in compensation.
Apart from the disintegration of family values and structure, alcohol has also led to the disruption of sacrosanct ceremonies. Each of these villages celebrates a large number of weddings each month, and until recently, the haldi ceremony had become a raucous affair with plenty of booze to fuel it. “While dancing, intense fights would break out over the smallest of issues and then it’s he-said, she-said. Shaadi kiske, aur mara-mari kiske,” said Patil. “We wanted this whole thing to stop.”
So in March 2015, a momentous meeting was held where almost all the 5000 villagers assembled in the central square, and “swore to make this a no-liquor zone,” recalled Patil with pride. Unmindful of their oath, Rajat liquor bar appeared within 50m of a zilla parishad school for girls and this despite not having obtained a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from either the gram panchayat or the police. The villagers launched a peaceful protest, sending news of their disapproval to the police and the collector.
They found support in the ACP in Turbhe, Dhanraj Daima who advised them on their only recourse - a 2003 provision wherein a gram panchayat in Maharashtra can declare an area liquor-free if 50% of the women vote in favour of it. “In Ulwe we saw that they didn’t want the bar, and it’s an upcoming town so we said we’ll support you if don’t want it,” said Daima. Adding, “It’s a good cause so I told them that you need to follow procedure, don’t agitate and protest. Nothing will happen. Send the collector a letter with the women’s signatures, vote and close it down.”
And so polling was held on Monday, with 61.2% of the 1,504 female voters casting their vote in favour of a liquor-free zone. The remaining women, Patil alleges, were also in favour of this, but misunderstood the voting slip which bore confusing symbols. “It was a 100% election in our favour, but kala akshar bhains barabar,” he stated. “If a woman votes for alcohol she risks the downfall of possibly her husband or son. Who would wish alcoholism on someone?”
And while this move doesn’t stop people getting a drink from nearby Belapur, Daima claims that it “works in such a way that it hinders the common man, who drinks daily and is addicted, from ready access.” Patil also hopes to prevent the erosion of their pious traditions and heritage, with more than 30 temples across the four villages. “Our culture is such that we have morning and evening prayers at the temples, attended by everyone. Every Thursday 500 people get free food. Good messages are delivered by microphone and there’s even a career counsellor for students,” he said, emphatically adding, “we’ve never had a bar in our village in its history.”
In an effort to educate the villagers and further eradicate this problem, they sought the blessing of famed spiritual guru and champion of social causes, Nanasaheb Dharmadhikari’s son, Appasaheb, whose meetings and cultural programs are regularly attended by these villagers. “Appasaheb has also visited the ladies at home to explain how bad alcohol is and how important it is to stop it. The action we’ve taken, is being supported by them. This is why the action is a success,” stated Patil. Seated beside him was his wife Parvati, who couldn’t stanch the flow of her tears as she recounted the sacrifices her mother made after her father’s untimely demise from alcoholism. “She walked for 14kms every morning to sell vegetables and then spent the evening working the fields. Even when my father was alive, all he would do was drink. We owe her everything.”