‘Wine hath drowned more men
than the sea’- Said Thomas Fuller.
Today on every small gullible
street, we find a caged shop doing brisk business all through the day. A Festive look is wore on all special days
…the huge parking of bikes, smoking chicken stalls outside, the hawkers selling
cigarettes and eatables, pickle packets and fried peanuts. This scene is so common in Tamil Nadu around
every Tasmac Shop. Common are also the
sights of men, dressed half naked lying on the streets around, women shouting and grumbling outside the bars
and hotels attached to the Tasmac shops and children searching for their
drunken fathers in their usual visited shops.
This creates a huge havoc in the
society and the normal lives of many families.
Women are prone to domestic violence, financial upheavals and all forms
of abuse. Men lose not only their
senses, money and employment, but also the love and care of the families. It is not just men, but also women who are
becoming vulnerable to this environment and become silent buyers at these
shops. Tasmac shops which are a huge
source of revenue to state government fail to close due to various political
and economic considerations in our society.
Women are both directly and indirectly impacted as the financial strain on
the families is high and the burden of keeping the kitchen fires burning falls
on them entirely. Education and moral upbringing of children becomes a mammoth
challenge.
Unfortunately the existence of
Tasmac shops impact the lower income groups to a greater extent. Women struggle to keep their sons and men out
of the reach of liquor which destroys the happiness and normal existence of
families. And the death associated to
illicit liquor also impact women more than men, as the chances of widow-hood
and abuse is more, which virtually sinks them in the society. Given the
slightest chance of this habit, men of all kinds, be it a husband, son,
son-in-law or a brother don’t hesitate to get into a Tasmac shop next
street. Be it day or night, it doesn’t
make them a difference. This creates a
major block in relationships and broken marriages.
The increasing health related
issues due to regular drinking also creates a burden on women due to inflated
medical costs. All these result in
suicides and panic amongst women and children.
Youth are spoilt and in-disciplined due to the drinking habit and easy
availability of liquor in local Tasmac shops.
They also tend to steal money from their own homes and also lose on the
quality time that need to be spent on education and colleges. Their concentration and health is at stake
thus causing more worries to the mothers.
Forcing such youth into the marital system only creates more domestic
issues to handle, abuses that get unfolded and violence that creeps into the
system. More stories of drunken
driving, accidents and murders, violence and rapes have become the norm of the
society today. The easy availability of cheap liquor affects
not only the life and health of the individual but the whole family and the
society at large.
In the long run, both men and
women tend to forget their social and economic status and go into more deeper
poverty situations as they are not able to control their lives on this spending,
related health hazards, impact on the children and their education and women
failing to manage their men to resist from visiting the nearest Tasmac shops
every other day. The consequences are
largely forgotten and misunderstood.
People who are habituated to drinking and spending time in Tasmac
shops/bars think that it creates camaraderie, companionship and makes them free
from all troubles of life. What they
fail to understand is that there is again another day where they have to face
life. Women tend to feel the burden of
this attitude more then men. Hard
working laborers find this as a temporary solution from all their aches and
issues.
Unfortunately, when these shops
and its selling through out the day is legalized for the narrow way of revenue
generation to the government, people think that there is no wrong in continuing
visiting these shops regularly. There is
no relief in sight for the women from the low income groups at least in the
near future. The biggest challenge is to
keep themselves away from the shops, getting victimized to the circumstances of
abuse by the people who are regular visitors to the Tasmac shops and also to
keep their focus in creating financial stability of their families.
What ever may be the
circumstances, women need to focus on education of their children, create
awareness of good and moral values in the families, monitor their men and
caring; keep the cards open for them to understand the impact. Expecting the politically gained government
to do good for us is like pushing the mountains to move. The least we can do is to cleanse the system
by ourselves in the smallest ways possible within our line of control. Women need to be more strong and at the same
time show love and affection without losing patience and tolerance till they
are able to bring in change in the families for good.
The figures are so alarming that
Tamil Nadu stands first in the Country in terms of volume of sales in Tasmac
shops. Though the government claims that
the increase in Tasmac shops has resulted in the less number of illicit liquor
consumption deaths, black marketing and undue pricing of liquor in the markets,
it is no where a sign of a better society.
People drinking while driving is a significant menace.
Public disturbance in residential
areas due to the availability of liquor in the Tasmac shops is a common
compliant in every police station these days.
Especially elder women living alone are subjected to abuse, robbery and
murders by the drunken evils. Even in
the most silent of the city locations, you can find street fights and men
dragging women who question the liquor habit of the husbands. We also see the rise of selling of the
domestic ware, things and certificates by men to raise money to buy liquor.
This puts the women to most traumatic conditions as the men fail to find jobs
and lose senses in the long run.
None of these women have the
strength to fight the odds in the society.
Neither do they have the financial strength nor the physical energy to
control the men nor have normal lives.
Women silently suffer day in day out tolerating all forms of violence
and withdrawal. There are many mothers
who go in search of their sons on the roads once the day slips into the nights
and men don’t return home on time. There
are many wives who are forced to sell their mangalsutras to feed their children
in the absence of their husbands sharing the responsibilities and spending
hours in the Tasmac shops. Increasing
number of shops near to schools and colleges is also becoming a continuous
nuisance as parents are struggling to keep their children away from this
damaging habit.
We as a society should empower
women and create a need for woman by a man and not be woman who wants a man to
run their lives. This paradigm shift
will make the men realize how important is for them to hold on to their lives
and not lose it at the counters of the Tasmac shops.
After every night of cries, we
have to arise fresh and show our smiles to this world. Instead, we have to stop the cries every
night. Women need to be change agents by
themselves. Control and monitor the habits of their children and men. Only then we can protect our own breed. Every problem will have a solution and it is
in the women of Tamil Nadu to realize their potential and work hard towards a
Tasmac/ Liquor free society. Men will do
wrong and Women need to emerge strong from every situation of this kind. Road side protests, hunger strikes and
suicides will not bring solutions. The
existence of evil is for ever in the society in one form or the other. Including the existing of Tasmac’s next
door. How we fight it and make the life
the way we like it, is all in our hands.
Be positive, stay focused and go forward is the only mantra for women of
all strata’s of the society to move towards better life. TASMAC shops are just another issue that we
women in Tamil Nadu can for sure handle and erase from the society once we
stand united in this cause, create an awareness of the menace and become real
fighters.
“Life knocked me down several
times, it showed me things I never wanted to see. I experience sadness and pain along with
failures. But one thing for sure, I
always got up!”
Yes, be a strong woman. Fight for the cause of cleansing the system
and Tasmac Shops issue that can be slowly but surely kicked out of our system
in the long run
“Empower and Educate
Women. Eradicate Liquor”.
