Maya Kharwar from Buxar asks UP policemen to allow her to carry liquor to Bihar for a tribal ritual following a death in the family.

BALLIA: On being stopped by policemen at Bharauli border’s country liquor shop in UP for packing away a dozen 200 ml bottles into her cloth bag, an elderly Maya Kharwar from Buxar in Bihar drops quickly to her knees to begin crying at the feet of the men in khaki. She begs them to allow her to carry the liquor back to complete the rituals of her tribal society following a death in her family.

If the old woman had her religious reasons to ferry away liquor to perform post-death rituals, a high number of youths and middle-aged people have been found crossing the border by two-wheelers and SUVs to reach beer and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) outlets in UP to set the “mood for celebrations” before rejoining their marriage parties back home. Indeed, from marriage to death, liquor seems to be a common peg lifting the spirits of mourners and revelers alike from across the border in Bihar. About 12 km from the Chhapra border at the Bairiya market of Ballia, local traders revealed, “On the days of `lagan’ (pious dates in the marriage season), the roadsides are trashed with empty liquor bottles and beer cans even before 10 pm.”

Following the blanket ban on liquor trade and consumption by the Bihar government on April 5, as reported earlier by TOI, tipplers from neighbouring Bihar have been pouring into UP to frequent the liquor shops of Ballia, Ghazipur and Chandauli along the border. The number of visitors has only grown with the onset of the marriage season.

After the festival of Ramnavami, liquor shops in areas like Bharauli and Sikandarpur in Ballia district, Bhadora Road, Dildarnagar and Jamania in Ghazipur district, and Naubatpur, Ilia and Kandava in Chandauli district are witnessing “surprising overcrowding on the days of lagan”, say shopkeepers of liquor outlets in the region.

In fact, in recent marriage parties at the villages in our region, many of us have noticed that the number of `baaratis' coming in exceeds the figure that the families of the grooms promised to bring in for the marriage on the pre-decided dates,“ said Ankit Rastogi, a local of the area, adding that the “extra numbers that come in are in reality headed for the local liquor outlets“.

Rastogi may have a point. Last week on April 26, an auspicious day for Hindu marriages, jeeps and SUVs sporting stickers like `Ajay weds Priya' were seen stopping in greater number at the twin shops of beer and IMFL at the Naubatpur border in Chandauli with the falling of dusk.

On being asked, a member of a group of `baaratis' from Bhabhua, headed to attend a marriage function at Durgavati in the Karmnasha area of Bihar, said: “After Bihar went dry, we have had no option but to travel an extra six km to reach Naubatpur to set the mood to celebrate marriages.“

Says the salesman who sold country liquor to Maya Kharwar at the Bharauli border: “Sales of country liquor have not been up as much as IMFL and beer, since its consumers are not all able bear the cost of both travelling and the expenditure on liquor. But the few that do come in to buy country liquor, buy it in far greater quantity than our regular local customers.“

