Drown our sorrows on another dry day?

It would not be wrong to say that today is the father of dry days. Like all proper mai-baaps, the father of the nation was also concerned about his 'children' taking a glug. 'Alcohol makes a man forget himself; and while its effects last, he becomes utterly incapable of doing anything useful. Those who take to drinking, ruin themselves and ruin their people. They lose all sense of decency and propriety.' That may be true for those taking the 'Keshto Mukherjee path' - the iconic 'drunkard' in films who apparently didn't touch the stuff. But for most of India's tipplers, alcohol consumption has neither made them forget themselves, nor has it resulted in mass ruination. Also, marking some specific days as 'dry' (and dangerous) while leaving others 'wet' (and safe), strikes us, Mahatma admirers, as odd - even as we thank our lucky stars that, by this logic, India isn't a 'dry state'.

Cha-ching earned from beverage sales apart, the age criterion for selling alcohol makes India's drinkers clearly distinguish children from adults, something we have strangely chosen to forgo each dry day, especially on October 2. It's not that some of us aren't clinking glasses today. It's just that many of us, in states where home deliveries are still seen as an online sin, could be spared the crowds at liquor stores when procuring a bottle on October 1.