COMIC RELIEF – MINDING ONE’S OWN BUSINESS!! EPISODE 3
LIQUOR SHOPS OPEN AND THE CHAOS CREATED!!
By Donald D’ Silva, Mira Road, Karkala
Donald D’ Silva is an Advertising Professional & Brand Strategist managing his own Digital Marketing Company in Mumbai. He writes about Current Affairs, Political Analysis, Bollywood Happenings and a variety of Social subjects.
Background:
(There are four friends who were thick and thin in their childhood. They were inseparable. Now, today they are in their 50 s and late 50s. They regularly get together and make merry as they have made their money and are well settled in their lives. It is the case of jumping early into business and tasting success. Two of them have taken VRS and settled down.)
1. Jeevan Shetty: He is the owner of three Bar & Restaurants. One in Mangalore and two in Mumbai. A billionaire in his own right. From Karkala.
2. SathishShenoy: He has a cloth store in Moodbidri. He has two veg Restaurants in Mumbai.
3. Richard Almeida: He has one Bar & Restaurant in Mumbai.
4. Melvyn D’Mello: He has two night clubs in Mumbai.
(The four friends again gathered at Jeevan Shetty’s house. Booze flows as the conversation gathers momentum)
Jeevan: Now, the liquor shops are open! Just see the crowds. They are thronging like ants! The government needs revenue. Liquor shops are doing roaring business! But, how to control crowds!
Sathish: It is next to impossible! The crowd has gone bonkers! It is really difficult to manage the crowd. There is no six feet distance. The owners and police are unable to manage the crowds! Just see Mumbai and Delhi. People are mad! Bevda’s are lying on the roads sozzled. There were hysterical dances as well!! Not pili vesha…but….kudukavesha!!
M: It had to happen. Jana marulo jaatre marulo! Surprisingly, the administration is unable to control the crowd.
R: BMC has stopped the liquor shops in Mumbai from Wednesday. There is no way the bevdas can be controlled. It is next to impossible. Other cities also will follow suit in no time…. sad… Bar & restaurants will never see the light of the day soon.
J: The tipplers since 40 days were thirsty for liquor. Now, when they get this opportunity, they are hovering over each other to get their share of booze. There were unprecedented fights galore! The crowd has totally gone mad!
S: The top celebrities must have got huge caches of beer and expensive booze. The wine shops in Juhu, BKC, Versova and Andheri, Lokhandwala, Colaba, fort must have done roaring business.
J: Kerala was the first to start this business, online though. They sensed this gathering of the crowd is very dangerous. They have brains!
S: People gathering like mad dogs will have bad repercussions on the COVID-19 spread. It will spread like wildfire!!
J: Once, it was widely mentioned in the media that, if Dharmendra goes on a non-boozing spree, the shops in Juhu and Versova, Andheri west were out of business. He used to drink heavily and was responsible for huge business for the wine shops around his area of living! For three months, there was no business at all. I mean wholesale business!!
S: That is true…. holds good for Vinod Khanna, Sanjay Dutt and other celebrity tipplers as well! Even, in Poes garden, where Rajnikant resides in Chennai, the same story unfolded. No business for the wine shops in the vicinity, if they go off boose!
J: Politicians, Industrialists, business magnates as well! They are the heavy boozards and also the people responsible for wholesale business.
S: Our GSBs also drink, but moderately. Shettys, Billavas and other Hindus, to top it all the Christian community, they are all into guzzling loads of liquor.
J: It is required…. after a hard day’s work, it’s imperative that a person drinks! Just to soothe his nerves. If people do not drink, how our businesses will survive! I am paying half salaries, but how long? I do not have a single rupee of revenue starting from 18th March 2020 this year.
S: Why wine shops are opened whole over India?
J: It is a “Vachan” by the government to the liquor traders!
M: What vachan?
R: It’s a promise!
M: Promise for what?
J: Promise for business!! The economy is down…. the liquor merchants are in tears…They need business! Vachan for the finance ministry…. They need money…!! Again a vachan for the Excise department!!
S: Silly vachan!! It reminds me of “Mahabharata!! The mega epic!! It’s full of vachans!! Oaths and promises!!! Strange!
J: Without vachans…. the Kauravas would have won the war!! Evil would have won over good people!! That’s how Pandavas won the 18-day battle!!
M: What are the famous vachans?
J: The first one is from ‘Devvrat’…!! The mighty warrior “Beeshm”! Because of him indirectly the Mahabharata unfolds…..wars…bitterness, infighting etc. He took the oath of maintaining celibacy. He proclaimed, never to get married!!
R: Why??
J: His father Shantanu wanted to marry the fisherwoman…Satyavati…he had fallen head over heels in love with her!! Devvrat’s mother’ Ganga’ has deserted him! Satyavati’s father said, if Bheesma marries, has children, then They will be the heir to the “Hastinapur” throne….immediately Devvrat took the mighty “Bheeshm” Pratigya…. He will never marry and live till the throne of Hastinapur is secure!!
S: Yes, and the Devta’s from heaven hailed him and named him “Bheeshm”! He was granted a ‘Icchamarani’ …status by his father! Bheeshm cannot be defeated in a war and he will live until he decides to live on this earth! He will die only when he is willing to die!! He had Immunity!!
M: Wow! Only if our Indian politicians got this boon…. We would have all the leaders alive still and wrecking the country!
J: Boss, please don’t change the topic. I liked the Mahabharta subject….
S: (continuing)…. yes, Shantanu had two sons. One is Chitrangada and the other is Vichitravirya. Chitrangada was killed in war with a Gandharva. Vichitravirya bore two sons. Dhritarashtra and Pandu. Dhritarashtra was blind from birth. So Pandu was crowned king!
R: Pandu, means…they call havildars in Mumbai!!
S: Please no jokes…yaar….pandu got a curse from a sage….long story…
M: Arre, forget all the long stories yaar…I also being a Catholic know about Mahabharata… Pandu’s sons were called Pandavas and the blind man’s sons were 100 nos…called Kauravas! Duryodhan was his eldest! Then Dusshyasana! They had a sister also called ‘Dusshyala”! She was married to king Jayadrath!
S: Wow! Melvin Bhai! You seem to know Mahabharata very well!!
M: Yes, old story, I do not know! But, from Kauravas and Pandavas story till the epic battle. I remember everything! Bheem was the mightiest and strong among the Pandavas and Kauravas…. He was very heavily built!!
S: No brains, though!
R: Enough, I have heard that Lord Krishna was in support of Pandavas, and he orchestrated the Pandava’s victory! He was instrumental in getting rid of the evil Kauravas!
J: Yes, correct!! Nice to hear that you know the story well!!
S: It was DwaparYug! And Lord Vishnu took the Krishnaavatar to get rid of the evil from earth!! He had a strange birth in jail!!
J: Ok,…. we forgot the real topic…..from wine shops re-opening we landed up with the Mahabharata story!
S: It’s because of the oath!! If Bheeshma would have married, then there would have been no war….I dunno where the 100 nos and 5 nos would have been?
J: As in today’s scenario, it was also a story about politics, treachery, backstabbing…jealousy…. One-upmanship!! People going to any lengths to win…wealth. Kingdom…position!!
M: So, an oath created all the problems!!
J: Same like the government…. the promise to open wine shops…. now the virus is spreading like wildfire…. Ahmedabad is under paramilitary’s control. Next is Surat, I heard!! Mumbai will be next, I think!!
S: This war is more dangerous!! The Mahabharata was with the cousins!! Enemies since childhood!! COVID is the unseen enemy!!
J: There is no comparison, though!!
S: What I meant was……the world is fighting against something which one can’t see!! Its only evil against the world!! China is the father, of course!!
M: But, oaths and promises most of the time, destroy the society!! Because of again, oath and promise given, Karn, Shalya, Bheeshm. Dronacharya…all fought for Kauravas and got killed except Bheeshm who lay in a bed of arrows!!
M: Pandavas won the war, but lost many lives!! 11 lakhs people were killed it seems…I don’t know the actual conversion of Akshohini..means
J: All said and done!! It is not comparison with the epic Mahabharata!! But, the promise of opening the Booze stores!!
S: The government needs revenue…. There is no money!! 12,000 and more crores of jobs lost in India…do not know the real figure though!! No money…no business …no food…poor people are in sheer distress!!
M: No one has the real solution!!
R: The world which has the most developed countries are suffering the most!! The US has more than Seventy Four thousand and odd deaths!!
S: The world is coming to an end!! Is it?
J: The liquor shops can’t be shut!! But, the queues can be maintained properly…. the revenue is growing!! India needs income!!
S: Everywhere there is anxiety, fear…. worries about future!!
M: There is news that Israel and Italy are already testing the vaccines. There is hope, though!!
R: China is the new age Kauravas and Ishhi Jumping is the new age Duryodhan, it seems! Post COVID-19…. exit…cure…. all the developed countries will bay for their blood!! There is no escape!!
J: It was total underestimation from their side!! They thought of bringing the economy down…and now they will be isolated!!
S: Crazy ambition is bad!! Here, it is totally uncalled for! How on earth, can a country think of doing something like this to an international community?
M: Ambani has already declared a 50 % salary cut for its employees!! This is weird! Bajaj Auto MD, in turn, has announced, no salary cut for its staff at all!! Hats off to him!
J: The MSMEs will suffer, as their employees. The private companies will be in trouble.
S: The middle east countries have started repatriating Indians!! Keralites have started landing!!
J: Another two years, Gulf country future is bad!!
S: There are no employment opportunities in India, as well!!
M: Grump has a lot of work in his hands!! He needs to sanitize the rogue country with the help of friendly affected countries!!
R: His hair colour has started changing gradually!! Does the virus affect the hair colour?
J: My friend, it could be your eyesight!! Grump can get his hair dyed every day!! He has hundreds of employees in his White house complex…or furthermore also at Oval!!
M: Lockdown word has become very famous…. I remember watching Sly Stallone’s Lockup a decade ago!!
R: Now, we are locked up!!
S: In Mahabharata, laqshyagruha was the same….It was locked up by the evil Kauravas with the evil brain of Shakuni at work…and set the Pandavas on fire!!
J: Bas ho gaya!! Yaar!! Enough!! They survived!! What about us?
S: We will also survive!!
M: How?
R: Pour one more Chivas……Get sozzled…. curse …China. Eat dinner…. go to sleep!!
(They had to wind up……coz……the word China is sending jitters in one’s mind anyways, nowadays!!)
Also Read:
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COMIC RELIEF – MINDING ONE’S OWN BUSINESS!! EPISODE 2
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COMIC RELIEF – MINDING ONE’S OWN BUSINESS!! EPISODE 1