They are found in three places, the local bar, on the street or at home.
They are alcoholics, who drink to live. This is plain and simple
And they do not conform to the any of the cute, funny or even
lovable images of the tipsy villager, the stuff of caricatures, cartoons and
perhaps a little unfortunately, a part of some the Goan narrative, woven by
those looking at Goa form the outside.
Adv Caroline Colaco who has
been practising for over 22 years in the field of family law was very
categorical when she said alcohol was causing a lot of problems. There was a
dramatic increase in the case of domestic violence. It was hell for several
women and young children in the state. Alcoholism, she said had crept into the
house and the man in most cases refused to accept the fact that he needed the
liquid to function. The wife and the children she said had their lives turned
upside down. Depression was a big problem for the women who in most cases had
to live looking behind wondering when the next blow would come. Caroline said
“Last week I had a woman bring in a video recording made by her daughter in
which she had recorded her father absolutely drunk lying in bed using the most
vulgar language to describe her and his wife. The daughter later asked her mom
as to how long they intended to wait for him to continue this behaviour. She
said she wanted to do much with her life but this was not helping”.
She said many homes were
facing financial ruin because either the father had taken huge loans to fund
his drinking or given the house papers as guarantee for more loans. Caroline
said the number of cases she was dealing of cheques bouncing because of
inadequate funds was too many to count. That was when many wives learnt of the
scale of the problem.
The problem of alcoholism
is not confined to the lower classes or for any specific economic class. From
the alcoholic who needed his country liquor to the survive the day to the fancy
Joe sitting in the local gymkhana or club going through the bottle of scotch,
it was in many cases just a matter of physical appearances.
The number of people
accepting their situation and joining the Alcoholics Anonymous may be continuous
but according to Advocate Colaco there is a very large percentage of this
population who refused to admit they were alcoholic. This she said was made
worse by the fact many partners would play along as say things like “Well
atleast he is not a noisy drinker or I don’t mind him drinking as long as he
does it at home. This does not help matters.”
The situation could be handled with the
implementation of the laws like not having a bar near a school or church or
temple. The road was long and hard if the problem had to be sorted.
