Night Life in Madras: Part 2

The Late 1960s to the mid-90s

 

Winds of change in the late sixties saw the Prohibition repealed. The government soon found that their finances were in a bad shape and that further taxation would get them voted out. To add insult to injury, money was siphoned off by the bootleggers and the cost of the ineffective enforcement was mounting day by day. So they threw away their Gandhian principles and concentrated on collecting tax from the sale of liquor.  

This was the catalyst for the night life in Madras to break its shackles and surge forward. The white sahibs were fast disappearing and the brown sahibs were taking control. Drama, music, dance and cinema took on a fresh life. Club life and bars in hotels thrived again with liquor available once again. You could go out and spend the evening and night instead of having to spend the time in your house. The night life was still way below the sophisticated levels of other cities but you had minor innovations like singers at the bar. You had social and political plays and cinemas replacing the mythological ones.

There were however constraints. First, the sudden removal of prohibition caused a shortage of liquor and the import restrictions made foreign liquor scarce. Second, Madras was not as rich as Bombay or Calcutta and so could not match the night life in those cities. The shortage of liquor led to smuggling. All these elements and the still conservative nature of Madras gave its own unique flavor to the night life in the city.

When there is money to be made humans are very innovative. The shortage of liquor was made up by the setting up of Indian made foreign liquor distilleries to make rum, gin and whiskey. Centuries of colonial rule had made whiskey a favorite, and serious attempts were made to replicate it here and give them scotch names. It did manage to give a kick alright but at the expense of an immense hangover. Then there was the Indian Rum which had the consistency of varnish and a lovely flavor guaranteed to make your hair stand straight after the first sip. There was heavy demand for old empty scotch bottles and these were used to fill up with spurious stuff which you found out only the next morning. Yes there was lot of activity.

For the brown sahibs nothing but the original would do and they were prepared to go to the ends of the earth for it. This led to a lot of smuggling through the ports and when regular air services were introduced to Singapore there was regular courier service smuggling whiskey. The other big port, in south Cochin, also was a regular source. No company party was complete without Scotch and their executives visited Cochin often to collect supplies. 

Iyer was a senior employee, with charming manners and a gift of the gab, working for Bensons. He went weekly by air to Cochin to collect supplies for the company. On one of the trips he had just managed to struggle in carrying his bag full of whiskey bottles covered with files and clothes and took a window seat. Those days there was no security or restrictions on carrying personal bags as long as they were not too big. 

A tall gentleman with a handle-bar mustache took the seat next to him ask asking him “ May I”. As soon as the plane took off he introduced himself to Iyer- Eric Stacy, the IG of police in Madras in charge of law and order. He had visited Cochin to study the smuggling of whisky. Iyer turned pale and mumbled his name and job. He took a file and looked busy .Eric was not put off but kept a barrage of conversation going.  Eric had a reputation for being an incorruptible officer who enforced the law with out fear or favor. Iyer just wanted to run away as soon the plane landed.  

Eric was impressed by Iyer's dedication to his work, his lugging all the files himself and going through the files even in the flight. Things might have been different had he known what was in his bag. As soon as the plane landed Iyer said a perfunctory goodbye and struggled out and rushed to his car. As luck would have it the Ambassador conked out and Iyer had to stand outside and try to get a lift. Eric was right behind and he greeted Iyer warmly, told him to get into his car and said it was no problem dropping him. Only there would be a slight detour as he did his surprise rounds to check law and order at night. There was no way of getting out of it and Iyer decided he might as well relax and enjoy life before being hauled to jail for smuggling whiskey. 

Near the Museum Theater entrance they saw a banner announcing Shakespeare's play Julius by Professor Sundaram in the august presence of the Hon Wilkins British High Commissioner. Eric said that that looked interesting and they went in. The scene was the stabbing of Caesar by Brutus and his cohorts. Caesar fell down but Brutus forgot to stab him in the excitement. Caesar got up and said in a loud whisper -”Stab me you fool”. After a few more promptings from dead Caesar, Brutus finally stabbed him. When Brutus had to read Caesar’s will it could not be found till the dead Caesar lifted his arm  with the will and in a loud whisper said - “the will you fool”. Brutus's funeral oration had to frequently prompted by the dead Caesar with expletives like “you moron”. The meager audience was laughing its head off. Eric explained that Prof Sundaram was a Shakespearian actor who was trying to train a college group. For the first time Iyer had a smile on his face.  

Their next stop was a bar in a hotel in Mount Road. They walked in and the air was thick with smoke and the place was full. There was girl on the stage belting away Hollywood songs. She was billed as Rose Mary from Los Angeles. Eric told Iyer that the singer was local Mylapore girl with a wig .Iyer refused a drink saying that he wanted a clear head for the meeting tomorrow. Eric was impressed and said that he himself never drank while on duty. The bar man recognizing Eric had put away all imported liquor of doubtful origin.

Eric to Iyer in a side tone - “ I know the buggers have smuggled bottles but as long as they behave themselves I keep quiet. I am more interested in catching the actual smugglers.” Iyer went pale.  

It was a cool night when they came out and Eric was telling Iyer that they were lucky it had not warmed up and what a lovely sight the moon made.

“Do you want to call it a day, Iyer. You have a busy day ahead”-Eric.

Iyer was relieved and assented thinking that he would get out of this without discovery and arrest. The fates decided otherwise. The internal walkie talkie in the car started buzzing and repeating a message “Emergency. Make it to 2nd lane off the Anjeneyar temple in Pudupet. Smugglers holed up and constable Hanuman needs help.”

Eric pushed Iyer into the car- “Sorry. We have to catch them. Driver speed up man”.

They drove like mad and ten minutes later were at the site and saw the remarkable sight of Hanuman holding back a gang unloading cases of black label whiskey. The smugglers were terrified of Hanuman thinking he was real, from the nearby temple. Eric and Iyer were stunned. Soon police vans with a lot of police arrived and arrested the smugglers. Eric to Hanuman - “Constable what the devil do you mean by wearing this costume while on duty?”

Hanuman- “Sir,excuse me I am not on duty. I am acting in a play ”Vir Hanuman” at the nearby temple and there was short break when Hanuman flew off to get the herb sanjeevani in the hills to save Lakshmana. I went round the corner to have a beedi when saw the smugglers unloading whiskey and rushed in.”

Eric- “Well done constable .I am going to recommend you for a police medal. I have never seen such a devotion to duty.”

Hanuman- “Sir if you will excuse me I am already late and the audience will be getting restive. May I go?”

Eric- “Of course. We will also come and see the play.”  

At the Anjaneya temple the audience was restive and discussing why Hanuman was taking such a  long a time. Suddenly with a roar and a jump Hanuman landed on the stage to thunderous applause from the audience which now included Eric and Iyer. 

 Eric started giving a big donation to the Anjaneyar temple and his career took off. Iyer, to the delight of his wife, became an ardent fan and a daily visitor. He gave up drinking but resumed after a decent interval. 

The life in the clubs now under the control of the brown sahibs thrived with the removal of the Prohibition. The only problem was the shortage of scotch. Members carefully looked after their bottles making level marks and sealing them when leaving them with barman. Even then they were not sure whether a few pegs had been removed and replaced with local liquor. 

Waran was carefully examining his bottle and smelling it. He asked his English visitor to taste it and see if it was okay. James smelt, swigged his drink in his mouth and pronounced it genuine. Later when the bar closed and the barmen were on their home they had a good laugh.  “The Brown sahib and the white sahib think they know every thing. They cannot make out a Black Label from a mixture of tea and Black Night after a few drinks.”  

The next stage of night life in Madras was a quantum jump to the world stage with not only a change of the name to Chennai but also to it becoming an innovative stage with the city starting to keep awake at night.

Wait till you read it.

Comments

[Ambika C]

I haven;t heard the Hanuman bit, but you had me guffawing away!

I eagerly await the next part!

[Kamini]

Great fun. Yes, the Hanuman story had me laughing out aloud as well!

[Sekar]

Very funny!

[Jonathan Crewe]

Constable Hanuman to the rescue!! =D

[shyam]

Cant wait for PArt 3, Mr R!

[cp3]

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[Kamini]

Did you correctly guess cp3's identity?

[P.Krishnakumar]

Excellent series indeed! I am looking forward to the rest.

[Styles P]

love it!! sorry I'm so late but I can't wait for part 3. I love the characters. As usual, funny yet informative! What with your bartending skills and your conoisseur status, you should open a bar in madras!

[Ava]

This is hilarious.