Hic Hic Hurray

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Hic Hic Hurray

By: Robert J. Baite *

Though I do NOT consider myself as a heavy drinker, I love being in the company of friends sipping glasses of Bagpiper or atingba off and on. It is a perfect excuse for the discussion to go on - from childhood memories to recent misadventure.

I believe that when you take a peg or two, you tend to open up and at worst even reveal your darkest secrets. Therefore, I take the opportunity of having a round of pegs with old and new friends where we laughed full heartedly or discuss a topic by dissecting it minutely.

Of course, it would be wrong to assume that I often have these discussions because we rarely meet. Every one of us is busy with their works and looking after their families.

So, whenever we have such chance of meeting, we do not mind breaking the bottles open and have a very good time. We open our hearts, laugh like hyenas and you know there are no words to describe the happiness when we meet each other after long breaks.

As far as drinking is concerned, I believe that there is no place to beat Manipur or to be precise Imphal. You enter a bar or what we locally call a bander, you can have all sorts of snacks - be it non-veg or vegetarian.

The menu consists from hawai aphutpa (boiled soya bean) to dog's meat or from chana whipped with pork soup to aphuba (fry beef beaten with garlic, onions and green chilies). You can have loaded meal with the bottle of ashaba or atingba to accompany it. Nowhere, you find such great treat with a variety of dishes to go along with your pegs.

In Mizoram, I have discovered that the half litre of heavily diluted local wine which costs hundred bucks should be consumed with heikru (goose-berry). Maybe, it is because the liquor is very bitter and eating the goose-berry limits the bitterness. There is no other stuff with which you can take along the liquor.

Either you have to buy packets of Wai-Wai or Ma-Ma from outside or else contend with the goose-berries that the host gives. And of course, as a dry State you cannot sit and while away your time. You have to stand and force down the thing on the throat.

For that matter, the worst part is that you cannot get any kick by just one plastic or funte as they call it. You gotta have atleast three packs to get on the line.

Once, I had invited some Mizo friends to Imphal. They had come all the way from Mizoram to have a glimpse of Manipur besides attending a funeral function at Churachandpur. I took them to a bander. We ordered oksa pahutpa, aphuba, chana and oksa athongba.

They were amazed at the number of eatables on the table. We also ordered a few bottles.

Our rendezvous went for more than two hours. We drank leisurely and chatted. I loosen my purse-strings and watch them (there were three of them) how much they could drink. Since, they have come from a place where liquor is like a mirage, they kept on drinking.

In the end when they had enough, we found out that we had three bottles of ashaba. When we asked for the bill, it turned out to be two hundred and sixty bucks. My friends were amazed beyond control. They enquired if it was only 260? I replied in positive and they were very much surprised at how cheap the liquor and the eatables were.

The next day was the funeral. But, I found that my friends had earlier visited the bander and they were drunk and out. They did not even attend the funeral service. They instead went to bander and spend their time.

When we went back to Aizawl, you can imagine how they related their sojourn to Manipur and how they drank like fish and eat like a pig and that too at a very affordable price.

In Delhi, I have found that the only eatables you can find are chana-mix in front of the liquor shops. You can have the drink along with the chana-mix along the pavements under the moonlight (if you are lucky). There was even newspaper report that the street-urchins who collect bottles from the vicinity of liquor shops have gone alcohol-addicts.

They apparently drank the drops of liquor from the bottles which they collected. To have a good number of eatables along with your drink, one has to visit the bars. Once, I went inside a bar just to see how things work. A cocktail of Bacardi with Sprite and some juice cost 450 bucks excluding service tax and the eatables.

You need to drink at least three glasses of such cocktail to feel light on the head. At this juncture, I would highly recommend that Manipur is the best place where you can drink till you lose your senses and eat till your stomach ache at a very competitive price.

SEKMAI CHALLENGE

I always believe that prohibition is a futile task. See for instance the Mizoram case. There is total prohibition. The Young Mizo Association along with Excise Department are taking every step to implement the prohibition.

However, it could not be total because there are many people out there who do not mind forking out money to have some packs of the 'forbidden thing'. Even IMFL are available though their prices are exorbitantly high. Due to rise in the prices of liquor, drugs have become the last resort for the youngsters.

Take for instance the much infamous, SP Tablet. One tablet cost about ten bucks. Three tablets are enough to keep your mind busy which cost thirty bucks only. Whereas, you need to spend more than two hundred bucks to get that high with the local liquor.

Therefore, when we look at the Manipur context, prohibition is a total failure. Liquor can be found in every nook and corner. I believe that no amount of pressure can be applied to totally eradicate it.

Of course, there can be a control. With the prohibition on, we do not have any liquor shops in the State. However, sometimes, one may feel how we will react if at all there is liquor shops opening around the clock.

If we can lift prohibition, and if we can use some modern distillery machines, I believe we can market our own Sekmai brand in a big way. The pungent smell can be done away with some artificial colours and smell.

The bottling can be done in such a way that it will appeal the national and international liquor connoisseurs. An attractive name can be given to the bottle like - Sekmai Challenge or Sekmai True Blue- Manipur. Well, this is just a suggestion.

If Russian Vodka or France Grape Wine can have a name in the world, I believe there is every reason why our own Sekmai will not find a place. Of course, that will need proper packaging, advertisement and Ultimate Selling Point.

And last but not the lease, a lift on the prohibition.

Robert J. Baite wrote this article for The Sangai Express.
You can contact him at [email protected]
This article was webcasted on June 24th, 2006

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