Nation of princely drinkers, or servants of inebriation?

[Alcohol]
*Menace to society
*Creates misery
*Promotes social inequality
*Hinders personal, social development
*Destroys family harmony

A tap on my door on Poya day around noon, confronted me with three emaciated ‘early teenage’ boys with a list in their hand. I sensed that this could be some contribution list but again was intrigued as normally it is during Vesak and New Year time that children go from house to house soliciting contributions for Danselas and Avurudu festivals.

The list was preceded by a missive from the Principal of the school where the children studied, a junior school, a few miles away from my house. It said that the school had arranged to have its annual Sports Meet two weeks hence and for that Rs 15,000 is required for expenses on account of certificates and trophies.

Student groups

I enquired from the boys as to how much they had collected that day and they added up the list and said that they had collected Rs 860. Then I connected as to how long (how many days) on that basis it will take them to achieve their target and they explained that there are other student groups as well collecting in other areas and as for them they would collect as much as possible till afternoon that day.

However, I found it very disconcerting that these students should go from house to house to collect Rs 15,000 to hold their School Sports Meet in a country where so much money is lavished upon seemingly petty causes.

I sat and wrote to the Principal to say that what is happening is very unsatisfactory and that I would make the funds available if the Principal provided me with the details of his requirements and hence that I was advising the students to disperse. Three days from this incident the Principal contacted me but he only thanked me profusely for the offer and I am yet to know his requirements for the School Sports Meet.

Basic needs

The moral of this incident however is that the society we live in appears to be so badly structured that some of us who spend Rs 15,000 for a single outing and a meal may not be very conscious that there are some among us who stretch themselves to the limits to make Rs 15,000 to fulfill their basic needs.

While chatting with the students I asked them whether their fathers take alcohol and two of them were affirmative while one said he does not know.

I also wanted to know the type of liquor they drink, whether it is local or registered, but they shied away without answering properly. I suggested that they should go to the wine store in the closest town, Galigomuwa and observe for half an hour what the wine stores collection would be during that time.

We all agreed that the half hour collection of any wine stores anywhere in this country would be well over Rs 15,000. Thus we have a situation in this country where there is nobody to give Rs 15,000 for school in an year whereas there are enough to give Rs 15,000 to the wine stores every half an hour!

Colonial times

The real irony of this situation is that those who contribute to the wine stores kitty could be the fathers of those very students who canvas from house to house to collect Rs 15,000 to have their sports meet.

Drinking is a menace in the Sri Lankan society and it has been so ever since it was introduced in the form of ‘Tenders’, locally adopted as ‘rainder’ during the colonial times. Sometimes we may argue that drinking cannot be such an evil because even in developed countries they drink and that drinking is more socially institutionalized in those countries.

The issue here is that in developed countries they drink to promote happiness and a social need while in developing countries what gets promoted when people drink is misery and social inequality. There, they drink and enjoy with their families while here they drink and quarrel with their families.

The portion of a person’s income spent on alcohol in a developed country is marginal while in Sri Lanka that portion is significant and have a detrimental bearing on the family and society. Thus the tippler in Sri Lanka is an addict who drinks beyond his social and economic means while his counterpart in the developed world drinks well within himself.

Social development

Therefore drinking like other pleasurable pursuits is not inimical as long as it compliments development in other sectors that sustain such pursuits but not when it become an indulgence hindering personal and social development.

The newspapers reported sometime back that Sri Lanka has the highest per capita consumption of alcohol per head of population in Asia.

How could an underdeveloped country like Sri Lanka establish such a record and the roots of such ‘accomplishment’ could again be traced to our colonial history?

After the Kandyan rebellion in 1848 the British had sanctioned a Commission to find the reasons for such uprising.

It was C R Buller, the government agent of the Central Province who first drew attention of the administration to this state of affairs.

In his report Buller pointed out that only few schools had been established (only four) in the Kandyan areas in the years 1815-1848 and he contrasted this in his evidence with the speed with which the Government’s excise policy had dotted the Kandyan areas, not hitherto noted for the consumption of liquor, with alcohol taverns.

During this same period the Government had granted permission for the commission of no less than 133 Arrack taverns (page 178).

The British may have done so to keep us inebriated so that they could continue to be our masters but now after 62 years of independence, do we still as a nation, have to be the servants of this inebriation?

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