Off Prohibition & Hooch Tragedies, A ‘Role’ Cut Out For Tasmac

Several years ago, while walking back from Old Trafford in Manchester, I came across an inebriated man lying by the wayside, half asleep.

- ANTO T JOSEPH

Police rushed to the spot, cordoned off the area, attempting to drive people away, as if it is a national embarrassment. Quickly came an NHS ambulance, and after completing a preliminary health check, he was taken on a stretcher. In his semiconscious state, he generously spat out ‘pleasantries.’ For someone who lived in Mumbai for three decades, it seemed like making a mountain out of a molehill. I have seen scores of people routinely fall asleep outside local watering holes, fondly called addas. Some others who manage to board suburban trains end up in car sheds. Nobody disrupts their hard-earned sleep.