By Quaid Najmi
Mumbai, May 4 (IANS): The elusive 'bottled genie' was finally uncorked on the first day of lockdown 3.0 on Monday as thousands of liquor shops in Maharashtra threw up their shutters to a flood of tipplers jostling outside to buy their quota.
Suddenly, after mid-March, liquor seemed to have emerged as "the most essential commodity" which the relieved connoisseurs felt they had been deprived of in the three consecutive lockdown seasons in the war against the virus.
Most turned out sober and wide-awake at 5 a.m., to queue up outside liquor shops which were permitted to resume business with a series of conditions across the state from Monday, but completely barred in all quarantine zones.
In some places in red zones like Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR), there were long queues of masked tipplers around 2-3 kms long, some making it even before sunrise.
Not willing to take chances, many unabashed boozers came well-prepared - carrying empty rucksacks or travel bags - to lug home fully laden with bottles of their favourite spirits!
"Can't say for how long it will be available, I plan to buy sufficient stock for at least a fortnight," said a grinning Sushil Nagare, carrying a rucksack as most shops in the city opened up by late afternoon.
As the shutters went up, desperate customers tried to barge right inside, creating mayhem, forcing the owners to retreat and after heated arguments, again downing the shutters in many areas.
Though a modicum of discipline was witnessed in some parts, in most places physical distancing was 'shot' dead as the tipplers full-throatedly joined the war for the wine.
"I have spent over Rs 20,000 to buy the special suits, masks, gloves, sanitisers, for my entire staff. But, I am worried of the damage the crowds can wreak on my shop, the liquor bottles and even harm my boys," Prasad Shetty, a worried wholesaler from Malad (Mumbai suburb) told IANS.
State Excise Commissioner Kantilal Umap earlier appealed to the people not to crowd around shops, maintain physical distancing, etc, but nobody seemed to care.
The government has stipulated a six-feet physical distance, each customer to sanitise his hands before the purchase, the shop must sanitise the vicinity after every two hours, work with 50 percent staff all sporting gloves, masks, etc, and the working hours would average from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Chandivali resident Pradeep Menon said: "The crowds are simply uncontrollable, physical distancing is reduced to a joke, and the government must permit only online or home-delivery till the excitement subsides."
Thane resident, Suresh Bhaskaran, aghast by the crowds outside a wine-shop observed: "Wonder if there will be similar crowds when all places of worship are thrown open after lockdown..!"
The decision was sharply criticized by social personalities like Prakash Amte and Trupti Desai besides other anti-liqour activists. At least one district -- Solapur -- has banned liquor sale till the current lockdown period May 17, and other districts have warned the liquor shops of stringent action if they fail to comply with norms.
Monday's development mirrored the dream of the late actor Rishi Kapoor, who had suggested opening up wine shops, way back on March 28.
Kapoor had said: "Think. Government should for sometime in the evening open all licensed liquor stores. Don't get me wrong. Man will be at home only what with all this depression, uncertainty around. Cops, doctors, civiliansa need some release. Black mein to sell ho hi raha hai. Governments desperately need the money from the Excise. Frustration should not add up with depression. As it is, pi to rahe hain, legalise kar do, no hypocrisy. My thoughts."
On April 23, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray became the toast of the tipplers in town when he unequivocally asked the authorities to drop "moral issues" and permit liquor shops to reopen to enable the government mop up monthly revenues of around Rs 1,250 crore.