03 April 2014, 03:52 PM IST
On April 1, the colour supplement of a national daily ran a front page story about the Delhi government raising the drinking age from 25 years to 27.
The feature quoted a young man who had planned to celebrate his 26th birthday in a central Delhi pub with his friends and family and who, at the last moment, had to cancel his celebratory bash because of the sudden revision of the drinking age rule, a move aimed at protecting young people from the evils of alcohol addiction.
When outraged readers – such as myself – turned to page 2 where the story was continued, it was discovered that the article was an April Fool, joke, and that the drinking age in the Capital remained 25.
While many may have raised a toast to that in relief, some might have well taken it as an occasion to once again ask the question as to why one has to be 25 years, and above, of age to have a social drink in a pub or restaurant in Delhi.
In most other parts of the country, the drinking age is 21, when the local authorities deem you to be mature enough not to overindulge and get yourself drunk, and becoming an accident-prone danger to yourself and a nuisance to others.
A drunk, of any age, is a serious liability and a hazard to himself and others. And overconsumption of alcohol, like the overconsumption of anything else, is certainly undesirable.
But imposing the 21 – or, in the case of Delhi, 25 – age limit on drinking is questionable on several counts. At 18 you are deemed to be mature enough to cast your vote, an exercise which might well result in your indirectly helping in the formation of a government which will then prohibit you from drinking till you become 21 – or 25, as the case may be – because you can't be trusted to be responsible enough to drink sensibly before you reach that age.
So, you're mature enough, and responsible enough, to vote for people who then deem you too immature and irresponsible to be allowed to share a beer with friends in a pub. Double standards?
Not only are you entitled to exercise your franchise when you reach the age of 18, you are exhorted to do so by the Election Commission and by the vote-hungry politicians vying with each other to get the nod of approval from first-time voters, who could well play a pivotal role in the upcoming elections.
At 18 you can get a license to drive a motor vehicle. If you are a female, at 18 you can get married and start raising a family of your own (the marriageable age in India is 21 for males and 18 for females). At 18 you can enlist in the defence services and be trained to fight for your country and die for it if necessary. And, if the Aam Admi Party has its way, at 21 you will be eligible to stand for elections (the current age being 25).
You can do all of these things. But you can't have an alcoholic drink, not till you're 21 (or 25).
The drinking age limit doesn't just make for an April Fool joke. It makes for a year-round joke on us and the illogical, ulta-pulta society we have created for ourselves. Find the joke funny?
jug.suraiya@timesgroup.com
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