New Khosla Kunj – Whisky is a bad thing

Mr. Khosla’s discomfort in carrying home the whisky bottles from the Wine Shop (Theka in Delhi), demonstrates Middle class India’s social discomfort with alcohol. Consumption of alcohol is seen to be a symbol of lowering one’s stature in society. And most importantly if one is having alcohol others should not come to know of it. I am sure some of us would recollect how regulars carry bottles from the shop – tucked under the trousers, wrapped in newspapers or veiled under black polythene bags.
Even empty bottles of alcohol speak badly of the person or family having them at home. Thus you would see that they are tucked away in some corner in the house & sold separately to the kabariwala, not with the regular ketchup bottles.

For Mr. Khosla consumption of alcohol is happening for a good cause – breaking ice with his elder son, thus the act is legitimate. But the world around him does not know this and hence he should hide the bottle as he walks home.
There is more to alcohol consumption and middle class households. Girls are always kept away from it. Mr. Khosla tells his daughter “Ja bete tu bhi kuch Coke-shoke khol le apne liye aur apni Mummy ke liye, shabash..”, (Go and have some Coke with your mother) as if handing over a consolation prize to her.

It is this pent up desire to have alcohol (& smoke too!) that drives many of the girls from middle class households to these two habits with a vengeance. This is true for girls living away from their families (for work or studies). These girls are almost making up for all the time that they have been kept away from it!

Working women from middleclass India, who are living away from their small town families, is a huge emerging segment for alcohol – ask any Brand Manager for a leading cocktail mix or a brand of Vodka!