PROHIBITION-TIME MEMORIES: Of Marine Lines' Lanes, Prayers and Pregnant Women
By Ivor Claude Fernandes Prohibition in the city then known as Bombay resulted in the birth of a cottage industry. There were three stages to the whole process. Distillation (in cans and cycle tubes, rubber bladders). Transport (from the suburbs like Juhu, Santa Cruz, Andheri, Kurla). Its sale and consumption. Where film-star Amitabh Bachchan's bungalow now stands (as does Dharmendra's) was once a hooch distillery. I know because one weekend afternoon when we headed to Juhu, hoping to buy some booze, we found the place turned into a construction site with a bungalow coming up. This was sometime in the mid 1970s. Cops would rarely come and check because they were bribed and also these illicit distilleries were in isolated areas where it was difficult for the police to get to. They found it far easier to wait at the roadside and catch and demand bribes from the carriers. Some carriers were smarter, instead of heading back toward Bombay they would catch a BEST bus to Andheri station and beyond, and catch a local train back towards South Bombay. Various people were paid off: cops, railway ticket checkers (who would extort money), even the motormen of local trains who were paid to stop in between stations to let the booze be carried off by people waiting on the railway line. The Central line running from Byculla to Currey Road especially where many buildings came right upto the line and in others places on the Western line like Mahalaxmi, Bombay Central and Grant Road were popular stops. The trains would inexplicably halt for a few moments; we knew hooch was being offloaded because there was no other reason for the stops. Transportation: the hooch was carried in cans and cycle tubes (worn wrapped around the body under their clothes) and by women posing as pregnant woman (a rubber bladder fastened around the stomach. Usually a football or a volleyball bladder). In those days the Bombay Police had very few women constables and these were usually posted to places like the airport. This meant that suspected women couldn't be searched or detained. There were even women in their fifties and mid-sixties in the trade. One day when there enough women constables, a raid was carried out and a lot of pregnant women were detained. They turned out to be carrying hooch in rubber bladders instead and one of them was in her mid-sixties! This raid was somewhere on the Central Railway Line, I forget where exactly but the next day the newspapers carried photographs of the raid. Hooch was smuggled in relatively small quantities as you can see, which meant that there had to be many people available to carry it. There were lots of willing smugglers to carry hooch, the money was good and many people I know personally actually supported their families on the money they made. These carriers would move in pairs or trios. One to carry the stuff and the other to escort and bribe their way into South Bombay. Sometimes there would be one escort for two or even three carriers. There always had to be an escort because it was difficult to both carry alcohol and bribe one's way. Also if for some reason somebody had to be detained, it was usually the carrier who stayed back. I remember one particular escort, Rodrigues by name, from Caranzalem, Goa. In Bombay he lived in Wellington Terrace, Dhobhi Talao. Tall, well built, a fast talker; just the kind of person you would want for an escort. He later opened a bar in Margao after Liberation. Speakeasies were mostly run by women because they knew it was difficult to be caught. Popularly known as 'aunties', they were mostly Christian. Mostly Goan, a few were Mangalorean. Few Maharashtrians were in the field particularly in areas where there were no Goans. But they weren't as popular because their service wasn't as good. They were very grumpy hosts, I suppose. A few trusted customers were sold booze on credit, most others cash. The booze cost eight rupees a bottle, and you could either buy the whole bottle, a pint for four rupees or a nip for two. These rates prevailed from circa 1950 to 1960. Later went up to Rs 20, 16 and 12. Soda was extra, two rupees a bottle, which was Roger's. Roger's was the most popular and expensive because it was supposed to have more fizz. Duke's was next, at Rs 1.50 a bottle. My last memory of going to a speakeasy is sometime in 1980. Towards the end we went only on dry days which were once a week (Wednesday), and other other dry days like Gandhi's birthday and even Christmas and New Year's. All these speakeasies were in the aunties houses, which was usually a one room tenement (20x10, or 10x15 size). All houses had a portrait of Jesus Christ on the wall, but there were many that also had Morarji Desai's as well! One aunty actually said "Yene ghar dhila, ani ye rakhta" (one has given me the house, and the other protects it). Most aunties would pay the cops not to be raided but the ones that didn't usually were quite innovative in getting around a raid. It was like this; unlit candles were placed on the altar in front of Christ and Mary, and when the house was raided, the candles were lit, and litanies and prayers were loudly recited. The police raiding the place would be told that prayers were on, and so they couldn't enter. Others would pay the cops, and the cops took money and bottles for themselves and maybe for those at the station also. Maybe they also sold them on later as well. Anyway after a while the police got wise to the praying aunties and soon everyone began paying up. There were also portraits of JFK as well, I have no idea why, maybe because he and his Jacqueline were a good looking couple or maybe because he had been assassinated and was in everyone's memory then. Snacks: chakna (grams, wafers, chaklies) was sold by shops close by, and boys would be sent to fetch these from the joints. Boiled eggs (one rupee per egg) were sold by other vendors. The aunties didn't have time to boil eggs, they were too busy just running the place. But they did give freebie snacks like cucumber and carrot. You only got one portion per peg. There used to be a notice on the wall as well, because many patrons would demand more snacks. The hooch was called *nausagar*, or just *country*. A generic name, it was very potent. Some of the aunties would dilute the hooch before bottling it and selling it to make a larger profit, but it wasn't a good idea usually because a hardened or experienced drinker could immediately tell the difference. After Liberation, Feni began to be smuggled from Goa; both cashew and palm. It sold for 20 rupees a bottle. Hours of business: they were open mostly from the early evening and went on sometimes till midnight. Some later ran the business 24 hours. A few hardcore patrons would come for a drink early in the morning as well. Credit was never given to the first customer of the day under any circumstances (it was considered to be the *boni*, or the auspicious first deal) so they would step out and ask money from passersby, from people going out to buy milk, bread, or even on their way to church. There were lots of speakeasies in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Marine Lines Lanes. We used to call the place Las Vegas because of the alcohol freely available there. 3rd Marine Lines Lane had the most joints. Permits were given for a period of one year and to people over 40 years. In rare cases sometimes to people below 40. But I never knew anyone under 40 with a permit, only hearsay. Permits were given for reasons for health. Your permit said you need alcohol to maintain your health! You had to have a special permit for beer. Beer was rationed; 12 bottles per month. And because it was so rare, beer permits were stolen more as a result (by pickpockets). Beer cost 6 to 8 rupees a bottle (circa 1965). Beer was also sold on the black market, I forget the price. The name of the brand escapes me now but it was a south Indian brand. Permit policy was implemented by V.P. Naik, the Maharashtra chief minister. Beer was first put on the permit list and then slowly the rest. Prohibition was unevenly enforced in the country; at the same time for instance Bengal was a wet state, with booze freely available. The funny thing was both Maharashtra and Bengal were then Congress-ruled states. Government manufactured *country* or GC put a huge dent in the business of the aunties. There were lots of country bars, they sold safe and reasonably cheap alcohol, they had convenient timings (10 to 10), and no raids/prayers. No one died from drinking GC as such, but because it was safe people began to drink more and in greater quantities, so I think perhaps more people began to suffer from and succumb to alcohol related illnesses later on in life. -- Thanks to Jubal Fernandes <jubalbingobo...@gmail.com> for sharing this article written by his dad. He writes: "While reading *Bomoicar* (edited by Reena Martins) I came across a couple of reminiscences about Prohibition-era Bombay. Above is what my dad told me about the time a couple of years ago (I had made notes). He seems to have drunk his bit then, although it hasn't done him too much harm...." Goanet Reader welcomes submission for cyber-publication. 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